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| Dibamus floweri
Quah, Anuar, Grismer & Grassby-Lewis, 2017
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Abstract
A new species of worm-like lizard, Dibamus floweri, is described from Fraser’s Hill, Pahang, in the central highlands of Peninsular Malaysia based on the following unique combination of characters: maximum SVL of 112 mm; tail length 11.4–15.2% of SVL; labial and nasal sutures absent; rostral suture present but incomplete; a single postocular; four scales bordering the posterior edge of first infralabial; no enlarged, medial, sublabial scale; 21 scale rows around midbody; 23 scale rows around the body immediately posterior to head; 21 scale rows around the body immediately anterior to vent; 175–194 ventral scales; 23–46 subcaudal scales and light coloured bands on body. Dibamus floweri, new species, is the third species of dibamid discovered in Peninsular Malaysia and is the first montane species. Its discovery underscores the importance of uplands regions as important habitats for herpetological diversity and their understudied nature.
Key words: herpetofauna, montane, new species, taxonomy, conservation, systematics
SYSTEMATICS
Dibamidae Boulenger, 1884
Dibamus Duméril & Bibron, 1839
Dibamus floweri, new species
Flower’s blind lizard
Diagnosis. Dibamus floweri, new species, differentiated
from all other congeners by this combination of characters:
maximum SVL of 112 mm; tail length 11.4–15.2% of SVL; labial, nasal sutures absent; rostral suture present
but incomplete; single postocular; four scales bordering
posterior edge of first infralabial; no enlarged, medial,
sublabial scale; 21 midbody scale rows; 23 transverse scale
rows just posterior to head; 21 transverse scale rows just
anterior to vent; 175–194 ventral scales; 23–46 subcaudal
scales; relative size of frontal to frontanasal 1.1–1.5; relative
size of interparietal to surrounding scales 1.3–1.8; and light
coloured bands on the body. These characters are scored
across all nominal species of Dibamus in Table 2.
Etymology: The specific epithet, floweri, is in honour of
Major Stanley Smyth Flower, who was one of the pioneers
for herpetological discoveries in the Malay Peninsula. He
made many notable discoveries over the course of his
explorations in the region and his natural history observations
well over a century ago were very detailed and contributed
tremendously to improving our understanding of the ecology
and behaviour of many species to this day.
Distribution: Dibamus floweri, new species, is presently
known only from Fraser’s Hill, Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia
at elevations between 1,207 and 1,500 m (Fig. 3).
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| (A) Holotype of Dibamus floweri, new species (LSUHC 12481) from Fraser’s Hill, Pahang (Photograph by Rupert Grassby-Lewis). (B) Paratype of Dibamus floweri, new species (ZRC 2.7240) from Fraser’s Hill, Pahang at ease. Photographs by Evan Quah. (F) Leaf litter microhabitat at Fraser’s Hill, Pahang where the paratype of Dibamus floweri, new species, was found. |
Natural history: Both specimens were found while digging
through leaf litter that had accumulated along the banks of
roads. The holotype was discovered at night in a drainage ditch
along Jalan Girdle in a damp and shaded area. The paratype
was uncovered during the day underneath approximately 3
cm beneath the soil (Fig. 2F), and in the same pile of leaf-litter,
the skink, Larutia miodactyla (Boulenger, 1903) was
also found. When handled, both specimens flared up their
body scales, giving them a wrinkled appearance (Fig. 1C).
This behaviour is interpreted as a defensive, anti-predator
mechanism employed by Dibamus to mimic a possible non-palatable
species of worm (Darevsky, 1992). The other two
Peninsular Malaysian species, D. booliati and D. tiomanensis
display the same behaviour when agitated (Das & Yaakob,
2003; Diaz et al., 2004; Grismer, 2011).
Evan S. H. Quah, Shahrul Anuar M. S., L. Lee Grismer and Rupert Grassby-Lewis. 2017.
A New Species of Dibamus Duméril & Bibron 1839 (Squamata: Dibamidae) from A Hill Station in Peninsular Malaysia. RAFFLES BULLETIN OF ZOOLOGY. 65; 681–690.
