Species details

You selected Homopus boulengeri MERTENS 1955. This is a synonym for:

Accepted scientific name:
Homopus solus BRANCH 2007 (accepted name) 1 literature reference for Homopus solus BRANCH 2007
Synonyms:
Homopus bergeri LINDHOLM 1906 (ambiguous synonym) 1 literature reference for Homopus bergeri LINDHOLM 1906
Homopus boulengeri MERTENS 1955 (synonym) 1 literature reference for Homopus boulengeri MERTENS 1955
Homopus namibian form” VETTER 2002 (synonym) 1 literature reference for Homopus namibian form” VETTER 2002
Homopus sp BRANCH 1998 (synonym) 1 literature reference for Homopus sp BRANCH 1998
Homopus ‘solos’ DAVAUX 2003 (synonym)
Common names:
Common name Language Country
Nama padloper - -
Classification:
Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Reptilia
Order Testudines
Family Testudinidae
Genus Homopus
Distribution: S Namibia (escarpment mountains near Aus, but with scattered records from other isolated mountains in the sand and gravel plains of the southern Namib Desert, e.g., the Kowiesberg near Luderitz, low granite hills 4-5 km SW from Tschaukaib siding (2615Da),
Additional data: Holotype: PEM R8754 (CDNEC 6381), an adult female collected by Peter Mostert during June 1982. Etymology.The specific epithet solusis Latin for alone or lonely, describing both the separation of the species’range from that of all other members of the genus, as well as the desolate, parsely-populated habitat in which the tortoise lives. In addition, the name alludes phonetically (sol) to the sun and the heat of the Namib Desert. Diagnosis.Asmall Homopus that forms part of the ‘Chersobius group’, and thus differs from H. areolatus andH. femoralis by possessing five claws on each forelimb, an obvious plastral concavity in mature males, a single inguinal and 11-12 marginals. Among the ‘Chersobius group’it differs from H. signatus, its nearest geographical neighbour, and from H. boulengeri, to which it was originally referred (Mertens 1955, 1971), by having an areolar carapace colour pattern (usually speckled in signatusand patternless in boulengeri); usually lacking prominent buttock tubercles in both sexes (present in both sexes in signatus, but usually only in males in boulengeri); having two axillaries (usually single in both signatus and boulengeri); a tricuspid beak (usually bicuspid in signatus and rounded in boulengeri); a small, narrow nuchal (broad in signatus); a relatively shallower shell; fragmented prefrontals (usually more elongate and longitudinally divided in signatusand boulengeri); usually having 11 marginals (mainly 12 in signatusand always 12 or more in boulengeri); having a well-defined ridge on the bridge (rounded in boulengeri); and having the anal midline suture longer than the femoral (femoral suture longer than the anal in H. boulengeri).
Source database: TIGR Reptiles, Oct 2007
Latest taxonomic scrutiny: Uetz P.,
Online resource: http://www.tigr.org/reptiles/species.php?genus=Homopus&species=solus
CoL taxon LSID: urn:lsid:catalogueoflife.org:taxon:e9e20ae0-29c1-102b-9a4a-00304854f820:col20110201

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