A new species of tortoise of the genus Homopus (Chelonia: Testudinidae) from southern Namibia

Abstract

Homopus bergeri Lindholm 1906 was based on a single partial shell from Namibia. No other Homopus were recorded from the country until a population of Homopus was discovered in the Aus region, southern Namibia, in 1955. It was originally referred to H. boulengeri Duerden 1906, and then inaccurately to H. bergeri. Inspection of the type of H. bergeri Lindholm 1906 shows that it is a junior synonym of Psammobates tentorius verroxii (A. Smith 1839). The Aus Homopus is morphologically distinguishable from all other Homopus and is described as a new species, Homopus solus. Morphological variation, distribution and biology in H. solus are described. The use of the combinations Homopus ‘solos’ by Devaux (2003) and Homopus bergeri (solos) (Lindholm, 1906) by Bonin et al. (2006) have no nomenclatural standing.