A New Species of Andean Gymnophthalmid Lizard (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Peruvian Andes, and Resolution of Some Taxonomic Problems

Abstract

The family Gymnophthalmidae is one of the most speciose lineages of lizards in the Neotropical region. Despite recent phylogenetic studies, the species diversity of this family is unknown and thus, its phylogenetic relationships remain unclear and its taxonomy unstable. We analyzed four mitochondrial (12S, 16S, Cytb, ND4) and one nuclear (c-mos) DNA sequences of Pholidobolus anomalus, Cercosaura manicata boliviana and Cercosaura sp., using the maximum likelihood method to give insights into the phylogenetic relationships of these taxa within Cercosaurinae. Our results suggest that Pholidolus anomalus is nested within the clade of Cercosaura spp., that material we collected near Oxapampa belongs to a new species of Cercosaura, and that lizards identified as Cercosaura manicata boliviana belong to a separate lineage, possibly a new genus. We assign Pholidobolus anomalus to Cercosaura, redescribe the species, and designate a neotype to replace the lost holotype. In addition, we describe the new species of Cercosaura, and comment about the taxonomic status of “Cercosaura manicata boliviana”incertae sedis.

Molecular Phylogenetics and Comparative Examination of Voucher Museums Reveal Two New Species of Gymnophthalmid Lizards (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) from the Peruvian Andes, with Comments on Proctoporus guentheri (Boettger, 1891)

“…The result of our ML tree is congruent with recent studies [2,11,13,15,53], with some differences, such as the polyphyly of Oreosaurus, Proctoporus iridescens, P. guentheri, and P. spinalis. The topologies of Torres-Carvajal et al [11] and Vásquez-Restrepo et al [14] recovered the polyphyly of Proctoporus, in contrast to topologies of Goicoechea et al [2], Moravec et al [13], and Mamani et al [15], who reported the monophyly of Proctoporus. These contrasting result and low support values do not support the monophyly of Proctoporus.…”

New insights into the phylogeny and evolution of Chinese Ovophis (Serpentes, Viperidae): Inferred from multilocus data

“…However, developing a sound taxonomy depends on complete sampling and the use of powerful analysis methods. In recent years, with broad sampling, application of integrative methods, as well as robust analysis methods, some systematic issues had been well resolved (e.g., Fouquet et al, 2022;Garg & Biju, 2021;Guo et al, 2014Guo et al, , 2019Hou et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2021;Mallik et al, 2020Mallik et al, , 2021Mamani et al, 2020;Sturaro et al, 2018;Vijayakumar et al, 2014).…”

Discovery of an additional piece of the large gymnophthalmid puzzle: a new genus and species of stream spiny lizard (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae: Cercosaurinae) from the western Guiana Shield in Venezuela

“…Gymnophthalmidae is subdivided into subfamilies-sometimes considered as tribes (Pellegrino et al 2001;Goicoechea et al 2016)-of which Cercosaurinae is the most species-rich, with about half of all recognized gymnophthalmid species. Currently, the more than 150 Cercosaurinae species are grouped in 21 genera (Torres-Carvajal et al 2016;Moravec et al 2018;Sánchez-Pacheco et al 2018;Lehr et al 2019Lehr et al , 2020Fang et al 2020;Mamani et al 2020;Parra et al 2020;Torres-Carvajal et al 2020;Vásquez-Restrepo et al 2020). within this rich subfamily, some linages have evolved a striking phenotype, presumably adapted to aquatic or semi-aquatic life.…”