Wednesday, July 3, 2019

[Herpetology • 2019] Norops brianjuliani • A New Species of Anole (Dactyloidae: Norops) from the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero, Mexico


Norops brianjuliani  
Köhler, Petersen & Méndez de la Cruz, 2019


  We describe the new species Norops brianjuliani sp. nov. from the Pacific versant of southern Mexico. Norops brianjuliani differs from all congeners by having a combination of (1) smooth ventral scales; (2) usually a patch of three greatly enlarged supraocular scales; (3) moderately long hind legs, longest toe of adpressed hind leg reaching to a point between posterior and anterior levels of eye, ratio shank length/snout–vent length 0.24–0.26; (4) a pair of greatly enlarged postcloacal scales in males; (5) 10 to 12 rows of greatly enlarged, keeled middorsal scales; and (6) a very large pink dewlap in males. In external morphology, N. brianjuliani is most similar to N. liogaster from which it differs by having larger middorsal scales (more than three times the size of granular flank scales in N. brianjuliani vs. less than three times in N. liogaster). Also, in a preliminary molecular genetic analysis, N. brianjuliani has a genetic distance of 8.7% (16S) and 15.3% (COI), respectively, from N. liogaster

Key words: Norops brianjuliani sp. nov.; Dactyloidae; Guerrero; Mexico; new species; Reptilia; Squamata.

 

Norops brianjuliani sp. nov.


Gunther Köhler, Claus Bo P. Petersen and Fausto R. Méndez de la Cruz. 2019. A New Species of Anole from the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero, Mexico (Reptilia, Squamata, Dactyloidae: Norops).  VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY. 69(2); 145-160.  DOI: 10.26049/VZ69-2-2019-02