Description and phylogeny of a new species of Liolaemus (Iguania: Liolaemidae) endemic to the south of the Plurinational State of Bolivia

Abstract

The Liolaemus montanus group is a diverse group of lizards that ranges from central Peru to southwestern Mendoza, Argentina, including much of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (“Bolivia”) and Chile. The species of this group mainly inhabit high elevation areas with cold temperatures. In the last years, several species of this group have been described, mostly in Argentina and Chile. In Bolivia, there are at least thirteen valid species belonging to the L. montanus group. In this study, we describe a new species of the L. montanus group with a marked endemism in the Cordillera de Sama of the Tarija Department, Bolivia, and a combination of unique character states that allows its formal description as a new species. The phylogenetic relationships based on analysis of 159 morphological characters suggest that it belongs to the L. montanus group, and that it is closest to Liolaemus pulcherrimus, which is found allopatrically in a small area of the Jujuy Province, Argentina. The multivariate analyses of 66 morphological characters support the phylogenetic relationships. Statistical analyses of inter-species comparisons of morphological characters are not considered the only methods due to the non-independence of some characters states among species; thus, a phylogenetic analysis is recommended. The detailed revision of specimens of the L. montanus group held in the collections of Bolivia is filling major geographic gaps and improving our understanding of the phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of this widely distributed group of South American lizards.

A new species of the Liolaemus nigroviridis group from the Andes of Central Chile (Iguania: Liolaemidae)

“…However, Troncoso-Palacios, Schulte, Marambio-Alfaro, Hiriart (2015), based on DNA data, found that in fact the subgenus Liolaemus (sensu stricto) should be split in two main clades, which they proposal as L. chiliensis section and L. nigromaculatus section. Later this proposal was also supported by other molecular phylogenies: Panzera, Leaché, D'Elía, Victoriano (2017) and Esquerré et al (2019aEsquerré et al ( , 2022 and is also included in the recent two volumes book Liolaemidae (Abdala et al 2021b). In the most recent phylogenetic proposal, the L. nigromaculatus section includes seven species groups (Esquerré et al, 2022), almost all of them endemic to Chile (Troncoso-Palacios et al, 2015;Panzera et al, 2017;Esquerré et al, 2019aEsquerré et al, , 2022Abdala et al 2021b).…”