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| Calotes iadina Wang, Deepak, Das, Grismer, Liu & Che, 2024 photos by Jens V. Vindum. |
Abstract
Owing to the harsh terrain, few biodiversity surveys have been carried out in the Pan-Himalaya Region. Among the understudied taxa from this region, Jerdon’s forest lizard, Calotes jerdoni, is believed to have a wide distribution, from northeast India to southwestern China. However, given the heterogeneous environment across its range and the lack of studies on this species, its taxonomy remains questionable. Using integrative taxonomic methods, we combined both morphological and genetic data from the type and topotypic specimens and examined the current taxonomic hypothesis of C. jerdoni across its range. Molecular data reveal that C. jerdoni as currently recognized, contains three deeply diverged lineages: one from the type locality in Northeast India, one from Western Myanmar, and another one from Southwestern China. The uncorrected genetic distances of mitochondrial coding gene ND2 among these three clades ranged over 10%. The Chinese population is sister to C. medogensis and paraphyletic to the remaining two clades of C. jerdoni. Morphological analyses confirm the results of the molecular analyses, where the Myanmar and Chinese populations can be diagnosed statistically in both univariate and multivariate space from the true C. jerdoni, as well as by a suite of reliable categorical morphological characters, including the size and shape of gular scales and ventral scales. To resolve the current taxonomic confusion, we resurrect the junior synonym, C. yunnanensis, for the Chinese population and expand its distribution to Myanmar, redescribe the elusive C. maria and C. medogensis based on its type material, and describe the remaining western Myanmar population as a new species. We further discuss the possibility of additional cryptic species within the complex in the Pan-Himalaya Region and provide a diagnostic key to all recognized members of the C. jerdoni complex.
Keywords: Dragon lizards, East Himalaya, questionable records, taxonomic revision, Tibet, Xizang Autonomous Region
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| Type series of Calotes iadina sp. nov. in life, including the holotype (CAS 219992) (A) and paratypes [CAS 233207 (B), CAS 224511 (C), and CAS 219993 (D)]. Photos by Jens V. Vindum. |
Calotes iadina Wang, Deepak & Grismer, sp. nov.
Diagnosis: Calotes iadina sp. nov. can be diagnosed by a combination of the following morphological characters: (1) body size large, SVL 63.2–102.5 mm; (2) tail slender, long, TAL 293.9–367.9% SVL; (3) conical scales of two parallel ridges triangular shaped, relatively low, not in spine shape; (4) inferior row of conical scales 2–3 scale rows away from superior tympanum, TRD 14.8–28.8% TD; (5) mental larger than first pair of chin shields; (6) gular scale count 16–19, much larger than ventrals, strongly keeled, mucronate, each bearding a distinctively elongated tip on posterior end; (7) gular pouch feeble or absent, transverse gular fold absent; (8) shoulder fold present, covered with granular scales underneath; (9) nuchal crests relatively short, lanceolate shape, TNC 8.27–13.3% HL, dorsal crests moderately developed; (10) neck scales oriented ...
Etymology: The species name iadina is derived from Greek, which means “emerald” and refers to the bright green coloration of the new species.
Kai Wang, V. Deepak, Abhijit Das, L. Lee Grismer, Shuo Liu and Jing Che. 2024. Systematic Revision of the Calotes jerdoni complex (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae) in the Pan-Himalaya. Vertebrate Zoology. 74: 169-192. DOI: 10.3897/vz.74.e109088
