Review of the leaf-litter skinks (Scincidae: Panaspis) from the Gulf of Guinea Oceanic Islands, with the description of a new species

ABSTRACT

Leaf-litter skinks of the genus Panaspis are currently represented in the oceanic islands of the Gulf of Guinea by two species, Panaspis africana and P. annobonensis. Here we describe a third species, Panaspis thomensis sp. nov., endemic to São Tomé Island. Data from previous studies and a new phylogenetic analysis using the mitochondrial 16S gene shows that the new species is genetically divergent and reciprocally monophyletic with respect to P. africana. Morphological data (scalation and morphometry) identify consistent, yet subtle, phenotypic differences between the two island populations. We also confirm that P. annobonensis represents a valid species, sister to the species pair P. africana + P. thomensis sp. nov., based on both molecular and morphological evidence. This description raises the number of known Panaspis species in the Gulf of Guinea oceanic islands to three, with consequences for the interpretation of local endemicity.

ZooBank—Panaspis thomensis:

lsid: zoobank.org:act:A1E69D28-CF4C-4070-BBCC-91E39C21DBA6

KEYWORDS:

• endemism
• Panaspis africana
• Panaspis annobonensis
• Panaspis thomensis sp. nov

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank several entities and persons that contributed to the current study. From São Tomé e Príncipe, special thanks are owed to Arlindo Ceita Carvalho, Director of the General Office for the Environment from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, to José Cassandra, President of the Regional Government of Príncipe; to Daniel Ramos, director of Príncipe Obo National Park, and particularly to Ostelino da Conceição Rocha (a.k.a. Balô) for his valuable help during field work. Aaron M. Bauer and Robert C. Drewes, and two anonymous reviewers critically reviewed this manuscript and provided useful and valuable comments and corrections. The live picture of Panaspis thomensis sp. nov. was provided as courtesy by Robert C. Drewes, to whom the author D. Lin gave permission to reproduce. Patrick Campbell (The Natural History Museum, London) provided photographs of the holotype of Mocoa africana Gray, 1845 in London. The authors also wish to thank CAS herpetological collections manager Jens Vindum, Andreas Schmitz of the MHNG, Michael Franzen (ZSM), Jakob Hallermann (ZMH) and Frank Tillack (ZMB) for the access to their collections. Although the current manuscript is solely based in new and original data collected for the current study, the authors dedicate this paper to the memory of José David Correia Teixeira (1978–2011), biology undergraduate at the University of Madeira, Portugal, who initiated the description of the São Tomé form in 2006, but whose premature death preempted the conclusion and publication of his early findings. Ana Perera contributed to the analysis of the morphological data on the 2006 version of this manuscript. Luis M. P. Ceríaco is currently supported by NSF Grant (DEB 1556255), Mariana P. Marques is currently supported by FCT, contract SFRH/BD/129924/2017, and D. James Harris is currently supported by FCT, contract SFRH/IF/01627/2014.

ORCID

Luis M. P. Ceríaco http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0591-9978