A new species of Panaspis Cope (Reptilia: Scincidae) from southern Africa

Abstract

The genus Panaspis in southern Africa is reviewed and a new species, P. maculicollis is described. This species differs from P wahlbergii (A. Smith) in lacking a white ventrolateral stripe, while breeding males have a black patch on the neck with diagonal rows of white spots and the vermillion ventral coloration is restricted to the chin and throat instead of covering the entire ventral surface. It is also smaller in size, with an average snout-vent length of 35 mm, compared with 40 mm in P. wahlbergii. The two species have been recorded in sympatry in the north-eastern Kruger National Park. Panaspis wahlbergii inhabits the moist savannas to the east and south of the subcontinent, whereas the distribution of P. maculicollis seems to be centred on the Kalahari sand areas of northern Botswana and western Zimbabwe, extending eastwards via the Zambezi and Limpopo valleys into western Mozambique and the Northern Province of South Africa.