Mabouya punctatissima

Mabouya punctatissima
Scientific classification (unresolved)
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Sauria/Lacertilia
Infraorder:	Scincomorpha
Family:	Scincidae
Subfamily:	Lygosominae
Genus:	Trachylepis
Binomial name
Mabouya punctatissima O'Shaughnessy, 1874

Mabouya punctatissima is a skink described in 1874 on the basis of a single specimen. It was said to be from South Africa, but later researchers doubted that origin and aligned the species with the Noronha skink from Fernando de Noronha, off northeastern Brazil, instead. It is morphologically different from that species, however, and is currently placed in the genus Trachylepis as a species of uncertain identity.

In 1874, A.W.E. O'Shaughnessy described the new species Mabouya punctatissima on the basis of a specimen, purchased from a Mr. Parzudaki, which had been labeled as coming from the Cape of Good Hope, a location O'Shaughnessy considered "very doubtful".G.A. Boulenger, in 1887 synonymized it under Mabuia punctata (the Noronha skink) without comment, a position followed by H. Travassos with some doubt. The latter wrote that the description of punctatissima suggested to him that punctatissima and the Noronha skink are morphologically different, but that Boulenger's examination of the type and the uncertainty of the type locality inclined him to favor the synonymy. In 2002, P. Mausfeld and D. Vrcibradic re-examined the holotype, which is the only known specimen. It is similar to T. atlantica, but larger, and lacks well-developed keels on its dorsal scales. Therefore, they suggested that it was not the same as T. atlantica and that its original locality may have been correct. Although it may represent a valid species of southern African Trachylepis, the name Trachylepis punctatissima is preoccupied by Euprepes punctatissimus A. Smith, 1849, also currently placed in Trachylepis.

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