A new species of Anadia (Reptilia, Squamata) from the Venezuelan “Lost World”, northern South America

Abstract

<p>A new gymnophthalmid lizard of the genus <em>Anadia </em>Gray, 1845 is described from the summit of Abakapá-tepui, Bolívar state, Venezuela, between 2200-2242 m elevation. The new species, <em>Anadia mcdiarmidi </em>sp. nov., is endemic to the Chimantá Massif and seemingly also occurs on Amurí-tepui and Murei-tepui. The new taxon is mainly distinguished from all known congeners by the following combination of characters: body fairly robust, tail longer than SVL, dorsal scales small, quadrangular, middorsal scales 53-57, suboculars large, subequal in size, with sometimes one scale slightly protruding downward between 4^th and 5^th supralabial, nasal entire, without sub-nostril groove, body uniform greyish to bluish brown in life, devoid of any conspicuous pattern in males, venter immaculate golden grey in life, femoral pores not extending onto preanal area, 9-10 on each side in males, preanal pores absent, hemipenis globose, weakly bilobed, bordered by numerous flounces (>20) bearing comblike rows of minute weakly mineralized spinules.</p

Phylogeny of Riama (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae), impact of phenotypic evidence on molecular datasets, and the origin of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta endemic fauna

“…This placement of A . mcdiarmidi is surprising for two reasons: first, Kok and Rivas () and Montero et al. (), among others, associated Anadia with other cercosaurine genera, such as Euspondylus , based on morphology; and second, Kok et al.…”

A new species of the Pantepui endemic genusRiolama(Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the summit of Murisipán-tepui, with the erection of a new gymnophthalmid subfamily

“…Recent papers (e.g. Myers & Donnelly, 2008;Kok, 2009Kok, , 2013bMyers, Rivas Fuenmayor & Jadin, 2009;Kok & Rivas, 2011;Kok, Means & Bossuyt, 2011;Kok et al, 2012;Rojas-Runjaic et al, 2013) show that tepui summits still yield undescribed taxa of vertebrates, including higher level clades such as genera, and efforts to assess and report the biodiversity in Pantepui should be a high priority in these times of global climate change.…”

Formal recognition of the species of Oreosaurus (Reptilia, Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia

“…Data for O. mcdiarmidi (Kok & Rivas, 2011) and O. rhodogaster (Rivas et al, 2005) were taken from the literature (Kok and Rivas 2011 and Rivas et al 2005, respectively). Measurements (snout-vent length [SVL] and tail length) were taken to 0.1 mm with a digital caliper.…”

“…Although these flounces do not present calcified comb-like spicules, it is possible that such absence is due to the age of the specimen. These calcified structures are present in adults of most species of Cercosaurinae that have their hemipenial morphology described, including species of Oreosaurus (e.g., Kok and Rivas 2011, Nunes 2011, Rivas et al 2005). A broad nude area occupies at least 50% of the asulcate face.…”

“…A broad nude area occupies at least 50% of the asulcate face. Some damages at the basis of the organ precluded the detection of the isolated horizontal flounces on the proximal-central region of the asulcate face that are often present in species of Cercosaurinae (e.g., Kok and Rivas 2011, Nunes 2011, Rivas et al 2012, Sánchez-Pacheco et al 2011). …”