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| Selvasaura almendarizae Torres-Carvajal, Parra, Sales Nunes & Koch, 2021 DOI: 10.1670/20-142 |
ABSTRACT
We describe a new species of Microtegu lizard (Selvasaura) from the Amazonian slopes of the Andes in Ecuador. Among other characters, the new species differs from the only other known species of Selvasaura, namely, Selvasaura brava from Peru, in having more femoral pores in males and a unilobed hemipenis. We present the first description of the skull of Selvasaura, along with a molecular phylogeny of Cercosaurinae and genetic distances as additional evidence supporting delimitation of the new species.
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| Specimens of Selvasaura almendarizae sp. nov. in life. (A, B) paratype QCAZ 9140, SVL = 39.73 mm; (C, D) uncollected specimens from Bigal River Biological Reserve, Napo Province (see map in Fig. 9). Photographs by S. R. Ron (A, B), A. Anker (C), and T. Garcia (D). |
Selvasaura almendarizae sp. nov.
Proposed standard English name: Almendáriz's Microtegus
Proposed standard Spanish name: Microtegúes de Almendáriz
Diagnosis.—The new species belongs to Selvasaura as defined by Moravec et al. (2018). However, in the absence of morphological synapomorphies defining Selvasaura, the new species is assigned to Selvasaura based on phylogenetic evidence (Fig. 8; see also Moravec et al., 2018). Selvasaura almendarizae sp. nov. differs from S. brava (Table 1) in having more femoral pores in males (9– 12 vs. 7–9, respectively), fewer gular collar scales (7–9 vs. 9–11), fewer transverse rows of dorsals (25–32 vs. 33–36), fewer scales around midbody (29–32 vs. 32–34), and fewer lateral scale rows (5 vs. 6–7). The new taxon can be further distinguished from S. brava and other Cercosaurinae species in having a unilobed hemipenis, which among microteiids has been reported only in a few species within Gymnophthalminae (Calyptommatus sp., Nothobachia ablephara, and Scriptosaura catimbau) and Alopoglossidae (Alopoglossus brevifrontalis, Alopoglossus festae, Alopoglossus kugleri, Alopoglossus myersi, and Alopoglossus plicatus; Nunes, 2011; Herna´ndez Morales et al., 2020).
Etymology.—The specific name is a noun in the genitive case and is a patronym for Ana Almendáriz former curator of Herpetology in the Museo de Historia Natural Gustavo Orce´s at Escuela Polite´cnica Nacional del Ecuador. Ana Almendáriz is an Ecuadorian herpetologist who has made important contributions to the study of amphibians and reptiles from Ecuador including more than a dozen species descriptions. For more than three decades, she also has trained many young herpetologists
Omar Torres-Carvajal; Vanessa Parra; Pedro M. Sales Nunes and Claudia Koch. 2021. A New Species of Microtegu Lizard (Gymnophthalmidae: Cercosaurinae) from Amazonian Ecuador. Journal of Herpetology. 55(4); 385–395. DOI: 10.1670/20-142
RESUMEN.—Describimos una especie nueva de lagartija microtegu (Selvasaura) de las estribaciones amazo´nicas de los Andes del Ecuador. Aparte de otras caracterı´sticas, la especie nueva difiere de la u´nica otra especie conocida de Selvasaura, Selvasaura brava del Peru´, por poseer ma´s poros femorales en los machos y un hemipene unilobado. Presentamos por primera vez la descripcio´n del cra´neo de Selvasaura, junto con una filogenia molecular de Cercosaurinae y distancias gene´ ticas como evidencia adicional para la delimitacio´n de la especie nueva.
