NO.1 25 M M A A H D A H O V D A Y C R R L 0 0 0 2 VOL. 25NO.1 MARCH, 2000 2% 3% 2% 3% 2% 3% 2% 3% 2% 3% 2% 3% 2% 3% 2% 3% 2% 3% 4% 5% 4% 5% 4% 5% 4% 5% 4% 5% 4% 5% 4% 5% 4% 5% 4% 5% HAMADRYAD Vol. 25. No. 1. March 2000 Date of issue: 31 March 2000 ISSN 0972-205X Contents A. E. GREER & D. G. BROADLEY. Six characters of systematic importance in the scincid lizard genus Mabuya .............................. 1–12 U. MANTHEY & W. DENZER. Description of a new genus, Hypsicalotes gen. nov. (Sauria: Agamidae) from Mt. Kinabalu, North Borneo, with remarks on the generic identity of Gonocephalus schultzewestrumi Urban, 1999 ................13–20 K. VASUDEVAN & S. K. DUTTA. A new species of Rhacophorus (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats, India .................21–28 O. S. G. PAUWELS, V. WALLACH, O.-A. LAOHAWAT, C. CHIMSUNCHART, P. DAVID & M. J. COX. Ethnozoology of the “ngoo-how-pak-pet” (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) in southern peninsular Thailand ................29–37 S. K. DUTTA & P. RAY. Microhyla sholigari, a new species of microhylid frog (Anura: Microhylidae) from Karnataka, India ....................38–44 Notes R. VYAS. Notes on distribution and breeding ecology of Geckoella collegalensis (Beddome, 1870) ..................................... 45–46 A. M. BAUER. On the identity of Lacerta tjitja Ljungh 1804, a gecko from Java .....46–49 M. F. AHMED & S. K. DUTTA. First record of Polypedates taeniatus (Boulenger, 1906) from Assam, north-eastern India ...................49–50 N. M. ISHWAR. Melanobatrachus indicus Beddome, 1878, resighted at the Anaimalai Hills, southern India .............................. 50–51 Book Reviews I. DAS. Philippine Amphibians. An illustrated field guide by Angel C. Alcala and Walter C. Brown ........................................ 52 I. DAS. Amfibi Jawa dan Bali by Djoko Iskandar ......................52–53 Current Literature in Asian Herpetology ....................54–64 Announcements ..................................... 65–66 Hamadryad Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 1 – 12, 2000 Copyright 2000 Centre for Herpetology, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust SIX CHARACTERS OF SYSTEMATIC IMPORTANCE IN THE SCINCID LIZARD GENUS MABUYA Allen E. Greer1 and Donald G. Broadley2 1 The Australian Museum, 6 College St, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia. Email: [email protected] 2 Biodiversity Foundation of Africa, PO Box FM 730, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Email: [email protected] (with three text-figures) ABSTRACT.- Six heretofore unrecognised characters in Mabuya are described and their distribution among the species in the genus is given where known. The reduction in the contact between the first supraocular and the frontal may be a derived character for the otherwise poorly diagnosed genus. The most posterior supraocular contacted by the frontal; the number of pretemporals; the number of temporal scales and their configuration; the number of small rows of scales dorsal to the window of the lower eyelid, and the fragility of the skin all vary interspecifically and hence are useful characters not only for the identification and alpha taxonomy of the species, but also for the eventual analysis of their phylogenetic relationships. KEY WORDS.- Mabuya, Scincidae,Taxonomy. INTRODUCTION 1887; Smith, 1935; Taylor, 1956, 1963; Mabuya is one of the largest and most wide- FitzSimons, 1943; Horton, 1973; Hoogmoed, spread genera of skinks. It consists of approxi- 1973, 1974). With regard to the species’ identifi- mately 110 species (pers. obs.) and ranges from cation and phylogenetic relationships, it is clear south-east Asia west through south-central and from the use of often overlapping scale counts south-west Asia, Africa, the Seychelles, Mada- and morphologies in keys that additional dis- gascar, and into Central and South America and criminatory characters would be helpful. the Caribbean. It is also one of the most long-recognised genera of skinks, the name hav- MATERIALS AND METHODS ing been in use virtually continuously since Data on the six scale characters were gathered Fitzinger proposed it in 1826. primarily from examination of museum speci- The purpose of this note is to discuss six new mens, and from figures and descriptions in the morphological characters useful in the systemat- literature. In a few instances, colleagues checked ics of Mabuya. One character is relevant to the specimens for character states. taxon’s diagnosis, and five characters are impor- Inferences as to character state polarities have tant in the identification of its species and hence been made relative to Eumeces, the most gener- ultimately useful in elucidating their phylogen- ally structurally primitive skinks. That is, using etic relationships. One of the latter also has eco- any list of character states and their polarities de- logical relevance, as it seems to be part of a rived for the analysis of squamates in general predator escape strategy. With regard to the (e.g., Estes et al., 1988; Wu et al., 1996; taxon’s diagnosis, it is worth noting that despite Hallermann, 1998; Lee, 1998; Reynoso, 1998), the size and conceptual durability of the group, Eumeces would have by far the largest number of none of characters that have been used in the primitive character states of any skink. If neces- standard generic diagnoses and descriptions are sary, this very obvious observation can be quan- diagnostic either individually or in combination tified when and if another scincid taxon is ever (e.g., Gray, 1845; Günther, 1864; Boulenger, proposed as a competing contender. The impor- 2 HAMADRYAD [Vol. 25, No. 1, tance of Eumeces as the clearly most primitive with the frontal or is separated from it entirely, in taxon in skinks and hence as an outgroup for the which case the second supraocular extends for- analysis of basal relationships within skinks can ward to contact the prefrontal (Fig. 1B). No other not be underestimated. This is because there is skink in which the homologies of the head scales great uncertainty as to the possible next most dis- are unambiguous, effectively all but the most tant outgroup - either the gerrhosaurids + highly modified burrowers, has this reduced first cordylids (as the cordylids) (i.e., Estes et al., supraocular. In a few species the character is 1988) or the anguimorphs (Lee, 1998). Added to variable. For example, in a sample of 50 Mabuya the uncertainty of the identity of the next nearest margaritifer, the first supraocular and frontal outgroup, is the extreme variability of the two were separated in one, in “short” contact in 36, currently hypothesized outgroups. The and in “broad” contact in 13. However, in all gerrhosaurids and cordylids are very different other taxa in the Mabuya quinquetaeniata com- groups phenetically and, interestingly, have plex (Broadley and Bauer, 1998), the never been entered into any cladistic analysis of supraocular is separated from, or in only short squamates as separate taxonomic units to see contact with, the frontal. how they would sort out individually against Five species of Mabuya are exceptional in skinks. And for their part, the anguimorphs in- having what appears to be the generally primi- clude not only a diverse group of lizards but also tive configuration of the first supraocular, that is, all snakes (Lee, 1998). the supraocular large and in broad contact with the frontal (Fig. 1C): the Andaman Islands en- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION demic M. andamanensis; the two Seychelles The character relevant to the generic diagnosis of endemics M. sechellensis (Brygoo, 1981:fig. 4; Mabuya is the degree of contact between the first Fig. 1C; pers. obs; i.e., n = 5) and M. wrighti supraocular and the frontal (Fig. 1). The five (Boulenger, 1887: plate 8, i.e., n = 1), the south characters important for discriminating among African M. laevis (Steyn and Mitchell, species and species groups within the genus are: 1965:figs. 3-4; pers. obs.; n = 9), and the west At- the number of the most posterior supraocular lantic island (Fernando de Noronha) endemic M. modally contacted by the frontal (Fig. 1); the punctata (Boulenger, 1887: plate 9, fig. 1; number of pretemporal scales (Fig. 2); the num- Schmidt, 1945: fig. 1; Travassos, 1946: Figs 1-2 ber and configuration of the primary and second- but not 5, i.e., n = 6). Whether the character state ary temporal scales (Fig. 2); in those species with in these species is truly primitive or is second- a windowed eyelid, the number of scale rows arily derived may become clearer with a future bordering the upper edge of the window (Fig. 3), cladistic analysis of the species of Mabuya and and the fragility of the skin when the animal is their near relatives. grasped or struck. Although this character is not completely di- Degree of contact between the first agnostic for the genus Mabuya, it is nonetheless supraocular and frontal.- The character is the valuable in that it is far more inclusive than any size of the first supraocular scale and hence its other character yet used to diagnose the genus. position relative to the frontal scale. In the gener- Hence it serves as one of the strongest pieces of ally primitive scincid Eumeces and in all other evidence that the skinks in the genus are indeed a lygosomine skinks the first supraocular makes phylogenetic lineage. broad contact with the frontal, the first In the interests of priority, it is worth noting supraocular’s suture line with the frontal being that although the character has never been used approximately half the length of the explicitly in any generic diagnosis of Mabuya supraocular’s lateral suture line with the (above), it may have been recognised on one oc- supraciliaries (Fig. 1A). In contrast, in all casion as a distinguishing feature of Mabuya in Mabuya except for five species, the first comparison with other skink genera. Taylor supraocular usually makes only short contact (1963: 941), with his usual eye for nuance, ap- March, 2000] MABUYA SYSTEMATIC CHARACTERS 3 FIGURE 2: The temporal scales of Mabuya showing the distinct number and concentric arrangement of the primary, secondary and tertiary temporal scales in the FIGURE 1: The dorsal head scales of Mabuya genus, and the variability in the number or primary showing the degree of contact between the first temporal scales.