Sunday, April 10, 2022

[Herpetology • 2022] Phyllopezus diamantino & P. selmae • Two New Species of Geckos of the Genus Phyllopezus Peters, 1878 (Gekkota: Phyllodactylidae) from northeastern Brazil


(A) Phyllopezus diamantino (B) Phyllopezus selmae

Dubeux, Gonçalves, Palmeira, Nunes, Cassimiro, ... et Mott, 2022. 
 
Abstract
We describe two new species of Brazilian geckos of the genus Phyllopezus based on morphological and molecular data. The first species is currently known from a relictual Cerrado enclave—“campos rupestres”, in the mountains of the Serra do Espinhaço in the state of Bahia. The second species is known from northeastern Atlantic Forest and transitional areas with Caatinga biome in the state of Alagoas. The two new species are sister taxa and together are the sister clade to the remaining species in the Phyllopezus pollicaris species complex. These new species can be morphologically distinguished from their congeners by meristic and morphometric characters, in addition to color pattern and genetic differentiation.

Keywords: Reptilia, cryptic diversity, integrative taxonomy, lizards, morphological data, molecular phylogeny 

 Color in life of topotype (unvouchered specimen) of Phyllopezus diamantino sp. nov.

Coloration in life of Phyllopezus selmae sp. nov.
paratype [MHNUFAL 16198] 

Coloration in life of dorsal view of the body and dorsolateral view of head of
(A) Phyllopezus diamantino sp. nov. [topotype (unvouchered specimen)]
and (B) Phyllopezus selmae sp. nov. [paratype (MHNUFAL 16198)].

 



Marcos J. M. Dubeux, Ubiratan Gonçalves, Cristiane N. S. Palmeira, Pedro M. S. Nunes, José Cassimiro, Tony Gamble, Fernanda P. Werneck, Miguel T. Rodrigues and Tamí Mott. 2022. Two New Species of Geckos of the Genus Phyllopezus Peters, 1878 (Squamata: Gekkota: Phyllodactylidae) from northeastern Brazil. Zootaxa. 5120(3); 345-372. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5120.3.3