Discovery of the second specimen of the African amphisbaenian Monopeltis kabindae Witte & Laurent, 1942

Abstract

The genus Monopeltis (Reptilia, Amphisbaenia) is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, occurring in several areas, from South Africa to Cameroon. Monopeltis kabindae Witte & Laurent, 1942 was until now only known from its type specimen, which was collected in 1930 in southern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here, the discovery of a second specimen collected in Manovo, Central African Republic (1 630 km north of the type locality) is reported. The specimen is described and its characters compared with those of the holotype. Despite the great distance between the site where this specimen was collected and the type locality, the specimen described here shows only small differences in external morphology when compared to the type. Considering also that there is no other specimen of M. kabindae in zoological collections and that the data available are not sufficient to support a complete analysis, the specimen is referred to as Monopeltis kabindae, thus considerably enlarging the range of that species.