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| Diploderma daduense Cai, Liu & Chang, in Cai, Liu, Liang, Hou, Zhou, Zhong, Li et Chang, 2024. |
Abstract
This study describes a novel species of Diploderma (Squamata, Agamidae) from the lower valley of the Dadu River of the Sichuan Province of Western China based on its distinct morphological features and molecular evidence. D. daduense sp. nov. can be distinguished from its congeners by its tympanum concealed; head mainly green-yellow, supplemented by black; skin folds under the nuchal and dorsal crest obviously present in adult males only, its vertebral crest discontinuous between nuchal and dorsal sections with a distinct gap; transverse gular fold present but not obvious in some individuals; gular spot absent in both sexes; dorsolateral stripes green-yellow anteriorly, cyan in the center and blurry off-white posteriorly in adult males, the upper edge of dorsolateral stripes strongly jagged in adult males; no radial stripes around the eyes; inner-lip coloration smoky-white, and the coloration of the tongue and oral cavity as a light-flesh color in life; bright green-yellow transverse stripes on dorsal body in males; black patches are evenly distributed along the vertebral line between the dorsolateral stripes from the neck to the base of the tail in males; beech-brown or gray-brown line along the vertebral line with heart-shaped or diamond-shaped black patches on the dorsal body in females; and supratemporals fewer than four on at least one side. The phylogenetic tree based on mitochondrial ND2 sequences indicates that D. daduense sp. nov. forms an independent clade with strong support 1/100 in ML bootstrap/Bayesian posterior probability and is the sister group to D. splendidum. At the inter-species level, the p-distance is at least 6.95%, further confirming that an independent species had been identified. Our work raises the number of species within the genus Diploderma to 47.
Keywords: Eastern Tibetan Plateau; Hengduan Mountain Region; Xiling Gorge; Ichang City; dry valley
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| Types of Diploderma daduense sp. nov. in life. Holotype CIB119354 (male) lateral view (A), dorsal view (B), and ventral view (C); allotype YBU−GP9889 (female) lateral view (D), dorsal view (E); habitats of new species (F). |
Diploderma daduense sp. nov. Cai, Liu, and Chang
Diagnosis. Diploderma daduense sp. nov. can be diagnosed from other Diploderma species by the following unique combination of characters: (1) body size large, SVL 74.7–95.0 (average 86.5) mm in adult males, 52.6–80.2 (average 70.5) mm in adult females; (2) head relatively larger, HW/HL 0.61–0.79 (average 0.80) in adult males, 0.60–0.67 (average 0.64) in adult females; (3) finger IV subdigital lamellae 17–23 (average 19.2), toe IV subdigital lamellae 21–31 (average 25.3); (4) tympanum concealed; (5) head mainly green-yellow, supplemented by black; (6) skin folds under nuchal and dorsal crest obviously present in adult males only, vertebral crest discontinuous between nuchal and dorsal sections with a distinct gap; (7) transverse gular fold present but not ...
Etymology. The Latin specific epithet daduense is derived from the Dadu River, where the new species was discovered. The genus Diploderma is Greek neuter, and that -ense of this new species name is the Latin neuter combinatorial suffix denoting “pertaining to” or “originating in”. And we suggest Dadu Mountain Lizard as its English common name and 大渡攀蜥 (Chinese phonetic alphabet: dà dù pān xī) as its Chinese common name.
Bo Cai, Fengjing Liu, Dong Liang, Mian Hou, Huaming Zhou, Jiayun Zhong, Jing Li and Jiang Chang. 2024. A New Species of Diploderma (Squamata, Agamidae) from the Valley of Dadu River in Sichuan Province, with a Redescription of Topotypes of D. splendidum from Hubei Province, China. Animals. 14(9), 1344; DOI: 10.3390/ani14091344
Simple Summary: The genus Diploderma Hallowell, 1861 (Squamata, Agamidae), currently consists of 46 species, which are distributed across East Asia (inclusive of Japan) and the northern part of the Indochinese Peninsula, primarily inhabiting dry valley regions in Western China. This article introduces a novel species of Diploderma based on its unique morphological features and molecular evidence, discovered in the lower valley of the Dadu River in Sichuan Province, Western China. Phylogenetic analysis using ND2 data suggests that this new taxon is distinct from its congeners. Morphologically, the new species can be differentiated from other Diploderma species by an assemblage of 46 specific characteristics. Principal component analysis (PCA) further demonstrates that this new species is clearly distinguishable from its closest relative, D. splendidum. Given these multiple lines of evidence, we describe this species from the lower Dadu River valley as a newly identified species, D. daduense sp. nov. This discovery brings the total number of recognized species within the genus Diploderma to 47.
