Title
Four new species of polychromatic spiny-tailed iguanian lizards, genus Stenocercus (Iguania: Tropiduridae), from Peru
Date Issued
11 March 2022
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Instituto Peruano de Herpetología
Publisher(s)
Magnolia Press
Abstract
The tropical Andes Mountains exhibit high levels of endemism and spatial turnover in the distribution of species. The lizard genus Stenocercus Dumril Bibron, 1837, contains 76 species and most of them occur in the tropical Andes, reaching elevations up to 4,000 m. We describe four new species of Stenocercus based on the examination of newly collected material from the Amazonian slopes of the Peruvian Andes. Stenocercus asenlignus sp. nov. inhabits the premontane forest of northern and central Peru, departments of Amazonas, San Martn and Hunuco, at elevations between 1,500 and 2,036 m, in the basins of the Mayo, Huayabamba, and Huallaga rivers. Stenocercus leybachi sp. nov. inhabits the premontane forest of the upper Huallaga River, Hunuco department in central Peru, at elevations between 824 and 1,270 m. Stenocercus qalaywasi sp. nov. was collected in a small village at the headwaters of the Mantaro River, Junn department in central Peru, at an elevation of 2,587 m. Finally, S. nigrocaudatus sp. nov. inhabits the montane forest from extreme northern Peru, Cajamarca department, at elevations of 1,700 and 1,892 m. These species are characterized by having granular scales on the posterior surface of the thighs, relatively short tail, caudals spinose, two caudal whorls per autotomic segment, and the ability to change coloration from green to brown or gray; they differ from other species of Stenocercus in scutellation features and color pattern.
Start page
1
End page
28
Volume
5115
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ciencia veterinaria
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85134439303
PubMed ID
Source
Zootaxa
ISSN of the container
11755326
Sponsor(s)
The summary phase of this research was made possible by the support of Rainforest Partnership (RP). The new species of Stenocercus were discovered during fieldwork supported by the following institutions: Environmental Fund Peru/Stichting Duurzaam Natuurbehoud Peru, Holland; Gobierno Regional de San Martín; Empresa de Generación Huallaga S.A.; Consultores Asociados en Naturaleza y Desarrollo (CANDES); Practical Action; Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) and Fondo de Promoción de las Áreas Naturales Protegidas del Perú (PROFONANPE), via Asociación Peruana para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (APECO), with the projects: Updating the status of an endemic harlequin frog from Peru (project number CEPF-108792); Global Genome Initiative (GGBN–GGI). We are especially grateful to: Ronald Wagter, Rafael Tamashiro, Luis Rios, Fernando Angulo, David Boyd, Odile Sanchez, Diego Vásquez, Fernando Rubio, Mariella Leo, Glenn Seitz, and Daniel Cossios for their logistic support during our field work. Finally, we are indebted to W.W. Lamar for review and comments on an early version of this manuscript and to O. Torres-Carvajal for his comments and suggestions during the peer review process. LAGA is grateful to Emmy Medina for her help in collecting the S. qalaywasi specimens.
Sources of information:
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