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Catalog of the Family Cordylidae

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Catalog of the Family Cordylidae Catalog of the Family Cordylidae Harold De Lisle 2016 Cover photo : Platysaurus orientalis, by Nilsroe CC BY-SA 4.0 Back cover : Ouroborus cataphractus in defence posture, by Hardaker Email: [email protected] CONTENTS INTRODUCTION …............................................................................. 1 CATALOG ….......................................................................................... 6 ACKNOWLEGEMENTS …................................................................. 20 REFERENCES . …................................................................................. 21 TAXON INDEX …................................................................................... 32 The Cordylidae is a family of small to medium-sized lizards that occur in southern and eastern Africa. They are commonly known as girdled lizards, spinytail lizards or girdle-tail lizards. Cordylid lizards are diurnal and mainly insectivorous. They are terrestrial, mostly inhabiting crevices in rocky terrain, although at least one species digs burrows and another lives under exfoliating bark on trees, and one genus lives mainly on grassy savannahs. They have short tongues covered with long papillae, flattened heads and bodies. The body scales possess osteoderms and have large, rectangular, scales, arranged in regular rows around the body and tail. Many species have rings of spines on the tail, that aid in wedging the animal into sheltering crevices, and also in dissuading predators. The body is often flattened, and in most species is box-like on cross-section, with lateral fold. The morphology and organization of osteoderms is highly variable in the Cordylidae. High-resolution X- ray Computed Tomography (CT) is ideal for recovering information about individual osteoderm structure, as well as overall arrangement of these features. The images above show just a small part of the variation in armor across the Cordylidae. Courtesy of the AMNH Most species have four limbs, but those in the genus Chamaesaura are almost entirely limbless, with only tiny spikes in place of the hind limbs. The family includes both oviparous and ovoviviparous species. Currently (2016) ten genera are recognized: Chamaesaura , with five species Cordylus, with twenty-one species Hemicordylus , with two species Karusasaurus, with two species Namazonurus, with five species Ninurta, with one species (montotypic) Ouroborus, with one species (montotypic) Platysaurus , with sixteen species Pseudocordylus , with six species Smaug , with eight species The phylogeny of the Cordylidae is shown below (from Pyron et al., 2013) with position of each genus. This Catalog is an attempt to summarize the genus and species taxonomic names of extant and recently extinct cordylid lizards. Several species concepts have been applied to these lizards, and changes in the species level taxonomy have been proposed and many more are to be expected for that reason alone. The systematic arrangement of the catalog is intuitive once a few principles are stated. Subspecific entries for each species are indented. Dates in brackets indicate that these have been subsequently determined from sources external to the original document. Misspellings are generally excluded except where they have been widely used or misinterpreted. Junior subjective synonyms are listed under each valid name. In order to enhance the usefulness of the present list, the type species of each genus has been added keeping in mind the famous quote of Harold Cogger, "Taxonomy is a matter of opinion" (Golay et al., 1993) based, of course, on the evaluation of the best evidence. The taxonomy used herein is my evaluation and we accept full responsibility for its use. We have deliberately omitted most lapsus calami, nomina nuda, nomina dubia, nomina oblita, nomina substituta , etc., from the synonymy because these names are not available for use. The synonymy herein is limited to new descriptions. Entries for species consist of species or subspecies name, genus, author, year of description, publication page, type locality, location of primary (name-bearing) type specimen(s), if known, and known distribution. Type localities are those in the original description, except those in obvious error or those amended subsequently by authoritative sources. Acronyms of type collections employed in the catalogue follow those used by American Museum of Natural History. Abbreviations of museums holding the types are as follows ANSP - Academy of Natural Sciences, Department of Herpetology, 19th and the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103, USA. BMNH – The Natural History Museum, Department of Zoology, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom. CAS - California Academy of Sciences, Department of Herpetology, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California 94118, USA MBL - Museu Bocage, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal [destroyed by fire in March 1978] MCZ - Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. MD - Museu Regional do Dundo, Dundo, Luanda-Norte, Angola MNHNP - Museum National dHistoire Naturelle, Laboratoire des Amphibiens et Reptiles, 25 Rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France MSNG - Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova Giacomo Doria, Via Brigata Liguria 9, 16121 Genova, Italy. NHMW - Naturhistorisches Museum, Zoologische Abtheilung, Postfach 417, Burgring 7, 1014 Wien, Austria NHRM - Naturhistoriska Rijkmuseet, Section for Vertebrate Zoology, Roslagsvägen 120, Box 50007, 104 05 Stockholm 50, Sweden. NMB - National Museum Bloemfontein, Bloemfontein Central, Bloemfontein, 9301, South Africa NMP – KwaZulu-Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg 3201, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa NMZB - National History Museum of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. PEM - Port Elizabeth Museum, Port Elizabeth, Republic of South Africa. QM - Queensland Museum, Gregory Terrace, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia. RMNH - Naturalis (Nationaal Natuurhistorisch Museum; formerly Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie), Postbus 9517, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands SAM - South African Museum, P.O. Box 61, Cape Town 8000, Western Cape Province, South Africa. TMP - Transvaal Museum, P.O. Box 413, Pretoria 0001, Gauteng, South Africa. UTEP - University of Texas at El Paso, Department of Biological Sciences and Centennial Museum, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, 500 W University Ave, El Paso, TX 79968, USA ZMA - Universiteit van Amsterdam, Zoologisch Museum, Plantage Middenlaan 53, Amsterdam: C, Netherlands (now incorporated into NCB Naturalis, Leiden). ZMB - Universität Humboldt, Zoologisches Museum, Invalidenstrasse 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. ZMH - Zoologisches Institut und Museum, Universität Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King Platz 3, D-2000 Hamburg 13, Germany. Cordylidae Mertens, 1937 Mertens, R. 1937. Reptilien und Amphibien aus dem südlichen Inner-Afrika . Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft , Frankfurt, vol. 435, p. 1–23 Type genus : Cordylus Laurenti, 1768 Chamaesaura Schneider, 1801 Schneider, J.G. 1801. Historiae Amphibiorum naturalis et literariae. Fasciculus secundus continens Crocodilos, Scincos, Chamaesauras, Boas. Pseudoboas, Elapes, Angues. Amphisbaenas et Caecilias., Frommani, Jena. 364 pp. Type species: Lacerta anguina Linnaeus, 1758: 210 Chamaesaura aenea (Fitzinger, 1843) Cricochalcis aenea Fitzinger 1843: 21 Type locality: South Africa Holotype: ZMB 1172 Distribution: South Africa: Northwest, Free State, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal provinces; Swaziland Chamaesaura anguina Linnaeus, 1758 Chamaesaura anguina anguina (Linnaeus, 1758) Lacerta anguina Linnaeus 1758: 210 Type locality: Cape of Good Hope, South Africa Holotype: BMNH 1946.8.7.98 Distribution: South Africa: Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal provinces Chamaesaura anguina oligopholis Laurent, 1964 Chamaesaura anguina oligopholis Laurent, 1964: Type locality: Calonda, Lunda, Angola Holotype: MD ? Distribution: Angola Chamaesaura macrolepis (Cope, 1862) Mancus macrolepis Cope, 1862: 339 Type locality: Umvoti, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Syntypes: ANSP 9708-09 Distribution: South Africa: Northwest, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal provinces; Swaziland; southestern Zimbabwe Chamaesaura miopropus Boulenger, 1895 Chamaesaura miopropus Boulenger, 1895 : 724 Type locality: Fwambo, northeastern Zambia Holotype: BMNH 1946.8.29.49 Distribution: northern Zambia; southern Tanzania, eastern DR Congo Chamaesaura tenuior Günther, 1895 Chamaesaura tenuior Günther, 1895: 524 Type locality: Kampala, Uganda. Syntypes: : BMNH 1946.8.7.95-97 Distribution: Kenya: central highlands; northern Tanzania; eastern Rwanda; southern Uganda; northeastern DR Congo Cordylus Laurenti, 1768 Laurenti, J.N. 1768. Specimen medicum , exhibens synopsin reptilium emendatam cum experimentis circa venena et antidota reptilium austracorum, quod authoritate et consensu. Vienna, Joan. Thomae, 217 pp. Type species : Cordylus verus Laurenti, 1768 Cordylus angolensis (Bocage, 1895) Zonurus angolensis Bocage, 1895: 25 Type locality: Caconda, Huila District, Angola Holotype: MBL (probably lost in fire 1978) Distribution: Angola highlands ., northern Namibia, south- central DR Congo Photo: Xesko Cordylus aridus Mouton & Van Wyk, 1994 Cordylus aridus Mouton & Van Wyk, 1994: 15 Type locality: Farm Botterkraal, Prince Albert District, Western Cape Province, South Africa Holotype: SAM 50901 Distribution: South Africa: Western Cape Province Cordylus beraduccii Broadley & Branch, 2002 Cordylus beraduccii Broadley & Branch, 2002: 22
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