Two new species of Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae) from the Caatinga, Northwest Brazil

Abstract

Two syntopic species of Cnemidophorus are described from the Caatingas of the Parque Nacional da Serra das Confusões (PNSC), located in the Southwestern region of the state of Piauí in Brazil. Both species are assigned to the ocellifer group, differing from all other members of the group by their distinct color pattern and lepidosis. Besides these differences, both new species share a number of particular features with other members of the group. One of them, C. venetacaudus, shares with C. abaetensis and C. littoralis the presence of spurs in the heels of males, six supraciliar scales, a high number of femoral pores (from 21–45), a row of enlarged scales in the dorsal region of the arm, 8–10 rows of ventral scales, and a bright bluish-green tail, while the other species, C. confusionibus, shares with C. ocellifer, C. mumbuca, and C. jalapensis a low number of femoral pores, enlarged scales in the temporal region (posterior to third subocular), 5 supraciliar scales, and 6–8 rows of ventral scales. Based on these comparisons, we suggest that the ocellifer group is more complex than previously admitted, being composed by at least two morphologically recognizable species subgroups.

Whiptail lizards in South America: a new Ameivula (Squamata, Teiidae) from Planalto dos Gerais, Eastern Brazilian Cerrado

“…Subsequent studies led to the description of several new species: A. nativa, A. littoralis, and A. abaetensis from the coastal Restingas (Rocha (Colli et al, 2003a(Colli et al, , 2003b(Colli et al, , 2009). Currently, Cnemidophorus parecis is not considered a member of the genus, because molecular and morphological evidence (Guigliano et al, 2006(Guigliano et al, , 2013Arias et al, 2011a) indicates that this species is a member of Ameiva genus. Ameivula was recently proposed by Harvey et al (2012) as a new genus to accommodate the species formerly attributed to the Cnemidophorus ocelUfer group that formed a monophyletic unit in their phylogenetic analysis.…”

“…The new species is assigned to the Ameivula ocelli/era group (Arias et al, 2011a) by a low number of femoral pores (less than 20), enlarged scales in the temporal region (posteriorly to the third subocular), five supraciliary scales, 8 rows of ventral scales, and a brownish tail.…”

“…nov., A. jalapensis and A. mumbuca. et al, 1997, 2000;Dias et al, 2002); A. venetacauda, A. confusioniba, A. nigrigula, A. cyanura, and A. pyrrhogularis from the Caatinga and transitional zones between Caatinga and Cerrado(Arias et al, 2011a(Arias et al, , 2011bSilva and Ávila-Pires, 2013); A. abalosi from the Chaco(Cabrera, 2012); Cnemidophorus parecis, A. mumbuca, and A. jalapensis from the Cerrado…”

A zoological catalogue of hunted reptiles in the semiarid region of Brazil

“…The Caatinga represents one of the major examples of a semi-arid environment in the Neotropical region, where it is a biome that is extremely threatened due to the unsustainable use of natural resources. In this biome, 117 species of reptiles are recorded (7 Testudines, 47 lizards, 10 Amphisbaenia, 52 serpents, and 3 alligators) [8-10]. Local human populations have interacted with many of these species by attributing some utility value to them.…”

Diet and Foraging Behavior ofAmeivula ocellifera(Squamata: Teiidae) in the Brazilian Semiarid Caatinga

“…The genus Ameivula (formerly Cnemidophorus ocellifera species complex) is distributed from northeastern Brazil to northern Argentina (Arias et al, 2011a,b). With the exception of Ameivula ocellifera (Spix, 1825), other species of the genus were described in recent years (e.g., Colli et al, 2003Colli et al, , 2009Arias et al, 2011aArias et al, ,b, 2014a. Despite this prolonged effort, species richness of Ameivula is probably even more diverse, with many populations in South America still needing to be examined (Arias et al, 2011b).…”