Four new species of Stenocercus Duméril & Bibron, 1837 (Squamata, Iguania) from the Department of Amazonas in northeastern Peru

Abstract

The tropical Andes are known to be the richest and most diverse place on earth. This mountainous region covers almost one third of the Peruvian territory, and its herpetofauna remains poorly known. The lizard genus Stenocercus Duméril & Bibron, 1837 contains 69 species and most of them occur in the tropical Andes, although some exist as high as 4000 m a.s.l. The examination of newly collected material from the Andes of northern Peru in the Department of Amazonas reveals four new species of Stenocercus which we describe below. Of these four new species, three inhabit the ecoregion of Peruvian Yungas at elevations of 1460 to 2370 m a.s.l., and one the Marañón dry forest ecoregion at elevations of 1340 to 1470 m a.s.l. Additionally, we provide new data about coloration, natural history and distribution of the poorly known S. aculeatus O’Shaughnessy, 1879; and discuss the identity of some populations of S. prionotus Cadle, 2001 and S. scapularis Boulenger, 1901.

Two new species of wood lizards (Hoplocercinae: Enyalioides) from Cordillera de Colán in north-eastern Peru

“…Including the two new species described herein, the herpetological exploration of the Andes from northern Peru in the last three decades has resulted in the discovery of 35 species of lizards belonging to ten genera (i.e. two species of Ameiva Meyer, 1795, one Cercosaura Wagler, 1830, six Enyalioides , two Macropholidus Noble, 1921, two Petracola Doan & Castoe, 2005, one Pholidobolus Peters, 1863, one Polychrus Linnaeus, 1758, three Phyllodactylus Gray, 1828, one Phyllopezus Peters, 1877, and sixteen Stenocercus ) (Cadle 1991, 1998, 2001, Cadle & Chuna 1995, Torres-Carvajal 2005, Koch et al 2006, 2011, 2013, 2016, Venegas et al 2008, 2013a, b, 2014, 2016a, b, 2020, 2022, Echevarría & Venegas 2015, Echevarría et al 2015, 2021, Torres-Carvajal et al 2015, 2020, Rodríguez & Mamani 2020). Most of these species are known from a few localities restricted or adjacent to the Huacabamba Depression, which represents a complex orographic scenario where Andean mountain ranges are separated by deep valleys (Duellman & Pramuk 1999).…”