NEW LONG-TAILED MABUYA FITZINGER FROM LOKOBE RESERVE, NOSY-BE, MADAGASCAR (REPTILIA, SQUAMATA, SCINCIDAE)

Madagascan species of Mabuya are placed in two species-groups based ma inly on the shape of the subocular (fifth supralabial) scale, The subo cular is rectangular in the aureopunctata group (M. aureopunctata, M. betsileana, M. boettgeri, M. dumasi, M. vato) and trapezoidal in the e legans group (M, elegans, M. gravenhorstii M, madagascarriensis). ii n ew, highly distinctive, Madagascan species of Mabuya with a rectangula r subocular has been discovered, This species, M, lavarambo sp, nov., differs from other members of the aureopunctata group in morphology, c oloration, distribution, and habitat. It is restricted to lowland rain forest in Lokobe Reserve on Nosy Be, an island off the northwest coas t of Madagascar, where it appears to be rare, as only three specimens were found during intensive surveys, It is the only rain-forest specie s of the aureopunctata group, and it is allopatric to all other specie s of its group, Other species of the group occur either much further t o the south in grass-or heathland habitats at high elevations (M. boet tgeri), or in low-to mid-elevation, open, relatively dry, and often ro cky habitats (M. aureopunctata, M. dumasi, M, vato). Mabuya lavarambo differs from all other members of the aureopunctata group in having an exceedingly long tail, Its distinctiveness raises the possibility tha t the aureopunctata group is polyphyletic consisting of two or perhaps three lineages that independently colonized Madagascar.