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PROCEEDINGS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Series 4, Volume 65, Supplement II 
Rhoptropus taeniostictus Laurent, 1964 Angolan Namib Day Gecko (Endemic) 
Rhoptropus taeniostictus Laurent 1964a;33, figs. 5a-b. Holotype: MD 1967 (collector A. Barros 
Machado). Type locality: “ km 60 de la route de Mo^amedes a Sa da Bandeira” [= km 60 road 
from Nambie to Lubango], Angola. 
Rhoptropus barnardi: Schmidt (1933:6). 
Rhoptropus taeniostictus: Bauer and Good (1996:644), Ceriaco et al. (2016a:30, 56), Heinicke et 
al. (2017:6). 
Global conservation status (lUCN): Not Evaluated. 
Global distribution: The species is endemic to southwestern Angola. 
Ocurrences in Angola (Map 153): All 
published records are from Namibe Province 
north of the Namib proper and below the 
Escarpement. Namibe: “Mucungu” 
[-14.78333,12.48333] (Schmidt 1933:6; Ceria¬ 
co et al. 2016a:56); “60 km of the road of 
Mogamedes to Sa da Bandeira” [-15.00000, 
12.66667] (Laurent 1964a:33; Ceriaco et al. 
2016a:56); “Namibe-Lubango road, 2 km east 
(by road) of Mangueiras, south side of the 
road” [-15.04467, 13.15906] (Ceriaco et al. 
2016a:30); “Namibe-Lubango road, road 
marker 59, 1.8 km west (by road) of Caraculo, 
on the north side of the road” [-15.01611, 
12.64369] (Ceriaco et al. 2016a:30). 
Taxonomic and distributional notes: 
Laurent (1964a) in the original description 
noted in some similarities between the new 
species R. barnardi Hewitt, 1926 and R. boul- 
toni Schmidt, 1933, although it is apparent that he regarded its closest affinities with R. barnardi. 
Kuhn (2016) found its phylogenetic position to be equivocal, with nuclear genes suggesting affini¬ 
ties with R. montanus, Laurent, 1964 and mitochondrial data placing it as the sister to R. barnardi 
+ R. biporosus + R. benguellensis. 
Map 153. Distribution of Rhoptropus taeniostictus in 
Angola. 
Rhoptropus sp. (Endemic) 
Rhoptropus sp.: Ceriaco et al. (2016a:31). 
Global distribution: The species is known from Angola. 
Ocurrences in Angola (Map 154): The species is known from southwestern Angola. 
Namibe: “Espinheira” [-16.79242, 12.35400] (Ceriaco et al. 2016a:30); “Omauha Lodge” 
[-16.20033, 12.40003] (Ceriaco et al. 2016a:30); “Iona National Park, north of Tambor” 
[-15.99636, 12.40667] (Ceriaco et al. 2016a:30); “Leba Pass, between river and highway” 
[-15.07003, 13.24347] (Ceriaco et al. 2016a:30); “Namibe-Lubango road, 2 m east (by road) of 
Mangueiras, south side of the road” [-15.04467, 13.15906] (Ceriaco et al. 2016a:30). 
Taxonomic and distributional notes: This as yet undescribed taxon is superficially most 
similar to R. barnardi, but is most closely related to R. biporosus (Kuhn 2016). It has a significant 
elevational range, extending from near the coast to the Escarpment and appears to be parapatri 
cally distributed relative to R. biporosus. Recognition that there is a cryptic species in Angola 
