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| Xenosaurus manipulus Nieto-Montes de Oca, Castresana-Villanueva, Canseco-Márquez & Campbell, 2022 |
ABSTRACT
We describe a new species of Knob-scaled Lizards of the genus Xenosaurus from the Sierra de Juárez of Oaxaca, Mexico. Although ´ this new species was identified as a distinct, undescribed lineage (and sister taxon to X. grandis) by previous molecular phylogenetic studies of the genus, we documented that it also differs from all of its congeners by a unique combination of scalation and color-pattern characters. The new species also is geographically isolated from all congeners and appears to have a geographic distribution limited to the vicinity of its type locality, between 1400 m and 1800 m of elevation, in the cloud forest belt of the Sierra de Juárez . Because the new species is a terrestrial, crevice-dwelling species generally ignored by humans and has a limited geographic and ecological distribution, we calculated its Environmental Vulnerability Score at 17, which places it in the middle of the high category of vulnerability to environmental degradation.
Key words: Conservation; Knob-scaled Lizards; Morphology; Systematics; Taxonomy
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| Xenosaurus manipulus female from Oaxaca, Sierra de Juárez, Municipality of Santiago Comaltepec. Individual released after being photographed. Note the red iris. |
Xenosaurus manipulus sp. nov.
Etymology.— The specific epithet is a Latin noun for a subdivision of the ancient Roman legion composed of either 60 or 120 men, and the origin of the modern word maniple. It is used in reference to the arrangement of the paravertebral tubercles of Xenosaurus manipulus, which resembles that of soldiers in the fighting position of the maniple.
Adrián Nieto-Montes de Oca, Nicté Castresana-Villanueva, Luis Canseco-Márquez and Jonathan A. Campbell. 2022. A New Species of Xenosaurus (Squamata: Xenosauridae) from the Sierra de Juárez of Oaxaca, Mexico. Herpetologica. 78(1); 40-50. DOI: 10.1655/Herpetologica-D-21-00041.1
herp.mx/pubs/2022-Nieto-Montes-de-Oca-et-al-A-New-Species-of-Xenosaurus-from-the-Sierra-de-Juarez-of-Oaxaca-Mexico.pdf
