Abstract
We describe a new species of Stenocercus from an interandean valley of the upper Río Huallaga on the Amazonian slope of central Peru (Región Huánuco), at an elevation of 1700–1900 m. The new species differs from other Stenocercus, except S. boettgeri, S. haenschi, S. humeralis, and S. varius, by the combination of the following characters: presence of granular scales on the posterior surface of the thighs, enlarged vertebrals, three caudal whorls per autotomic segment, a medially complete antegular fold, non-spinose caudals, and by males lacking a black transverse band on the ventral surface of the neck. However, the new Stenocercus differs from these, with the exception of S. humeralis, by having more scales around the midbody (104–107, =105.66) than S. boettgeri (79–104, = 88.61), S. haenschi (57–64, =60.50), and S. varius (74–88, =82.35); and from S. humeralis by having the scales in the frontonasal region nearly equal in size to the scales in the occipitoparietal region, while in S. humeralis the scales on the frontonasal region are twice or three times longer than the scales on the occipitoparietal region.
Key words: arboreal, Iguania, new species, Peru, Stenocercus, taxonomy
Venegas, Pablo J., Vilma Duran & Karla Garcia-Burneo. 2013. A New Species of Arboreal Iguanid Lizard, genus Stenocercus (Squamata: Iguania), from central Peru.
Zootaxa. 3609(3): 291-301. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3609.3.3
Zootaxa. 3609(3): 291-301. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3609.3.3
