2016-12-23T18:52:10

Phenotypic differences among species are known to have functional consequences that in turn allow species to use different habitats. However, the role of behaviour in this ecomorphological paradigm is not well defined. We investigated the relationship between morphology, ecology and escape behaviour among 25 species of the lizard clade Liolaemus in a phylogenetic framework. We demonstrate that the relationship between morphology and characteristics of habitat structure shows little or no association, consistent with a previous study on this group. However, a significant relationship was found between morphology and escape behaviour with the distance a lizard moved from a potential predator correlated with body width, axilla‐groin length, and pelvis width. A significant relationship between escape behaviour and habitat structure occupation was found; lizards that occupied tree trunks and open ground ran longer distances from predators and were found greater distances from shelter. Behavioural strategies used by these lizards in open habitats appear to have made unnecessary the evolution of limb morphology that has occurred in other lizards from other clades that are found in open settings. Understanding differences in patterns of ecomorphological relationships among clades is an important component for studying adaptive diversification.

A biometric analysis of body proportions with presumably functional meaning for microhabitat selection was made on 12 species of Liolaemus lizards in central Chile. Characters studied were forelimb length, hindlimb length, tail length (all standardized by the corresponding snout-vent length), and the ratio forelimb/hindlimb length. It is shown that irrespective of terrestrial, saxicolous, or arboreal habits, Liolaemus species are remarkably similar in body proportions. The only exceptions are: L. lemniscatus, an open ground-dweller which exhibits significantly shorter limbs; and L. chiliensis and L. schroederi, both shrub-climbers which exhibit significantly longer tail. It is concluded that the adaptive radiation of Liolaemus lizards in central Chile has been accomplished mainly by diversification of activity time, food size, and microhabitat type. Morphological divergence in body proportions seems to have played an unimportant role.

Liolaemus is an extremely species rich genus of iguanid lizards from southern South America. Most of the diversity though is found in the Andes Cordillera, between Argentina and Chile. Here we describe Liolaemus ubaghsi sp. nov., from El Teniente Mine, in the Andean mountains of the O'Higgins Region in Chile. This species presents scalation and pattern traits that belong to the leopardinus clade, a group of viviparous, high altitude lizards that inhabit the mountain ranges surrounding Santiago City. The species of this clade in turn belong to the Andean and Patagonian elongatus-kriegi complex. Liolaemus ubaghsi sp. nov. has been previously recognized as L. leopardinus and L. elongatus, nevertheless we present diagnostic traits that allow us to describe it as a new species. It mainly differs from the rest of the leopardinus clade (L. leopardinus, L. ramonensis, L. valdesianus and L. frassinettii) by having the following unique combination of traits: ochre background coloration, a wide dark occipital stripe, dark flanks, white dots dispersed on the dorsum, absence of leopard-like spots and enlarged infralabial scales.

Most of the lizards of the Liolaemus genus present precloacal pores in males, with few exceptions in species of the lineomaculatus and neuquensis groups, and in the elongatus-kriegi complex. The elongatus-kriegi complex, belonging to the Liolaemus (sensu stricto) subgenus, is composed of medium sized, saxicolous, viviparous and insectivorous or omnivorous lizards, distributed between the Andean and Patagonian zones of Chile and Argentina. We reviewed the taxonomic history of this group, and we describe two new species, Liolaemus carlosgarini, found in the vicinity of the Maule Lagoon, in the Maule Region, Chile, and Liolaemus riodamas, described from the population that was originally designated as Liolaemus cf. ceii, from Las Damas River, near the Termas del Flaco locality, in the Libertador Bernardo O’Higgins Region, thereby based on this research L. ceii is eliminated from the species belonging to Chile.Both species have as a diagnostic character the absence of precloacal pores, and we suggest here their presumptive systematic relationships in Liolaemus. We analyzed ten species of Liolaemus, in order to perform a phylogenetic analysis based on external morphology, using mostly squamation and morphometric characters. The analysis was performed using PAUP, with the Maximum Parsimony criterion. In addition, through diaphanisation, we studied and described the osteology of the new species. We conclude that species lacking precloacal pores do not form a monophyletic group, and that constructing a phylogeny using only external morphology, at least for this group of reptiles, is insufficient to establish solid phyletic relationships. Other sort of characters should complement the morphological ones.