Description and phylogeny of a new species of Liolaemus (Iguania: Liolaemidae) endemic to the south of the Plurinational State of Bolivia.

Cristian Simón Abdala,James Aparicio,Robert Langstroth,Marcos Maximiliano Paz,Pablo Valladares Faundez,Julián Valdes,Romina Valeria Semhan,Roberto Gutiérrez Poblete,Alvaro J Aguilar-Kirigin,Ana Lucia Bulacios Arroyo,Feng Zhang

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0225815

Abstract

The Liolaemus montanus group is a diverse group of lizards that ranges from central Peru to southwestern Mendoza, Argentina, including much of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (“Bolivia”) and Chile. The species of this group mainly inhabit high elevation areas with cold temperatures. In the last years, several species of this group have been described, mostly in Argentina and Chile. In Bolivia, there are at least thirteen valid species belonging to the L. montanus group. In this study, we describe a new species of the L. montanus group with a marked endemism in the Cordillera de Sama of the Tarija Department, Bolivia, and a combination of unique character states that allows its formal description as a new species. The phylogenetic relationships based on analysis of 159 morphological characters suggest that it belongs to the L. montanus group, and that it is closest to Liolaemus pulcherrimus, which is found allopatrically in a small area of the Jujuy Province, Argentina. The multivariate analyses of 66 morphological characters support the phylogenetic relationships. Statistical analyses of inter-species comparisons of morphological characters are not considered the only methods due to the non-independence of some characters states among species; thus, a phylogenetic analysis is recommended. The detailed revision of specimens of the L. montanus group held in the collections of Bolivia is filling major geographic gaps and improving our understanding of the phylogenetic and biogeographic relationships of this widely distributed group of South American lizards.

Highlights

The genus Liolaemus includes more than 260 valid species [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], of small to medium-sized lizards distributed from Tierra del Fuego to the Ancash Region of Peru and is the second most speciose amniote clade at the global level [3, 7], surpassed only by Anolis
We present a new species of the L. montanus group that had originally been catalogued as L. islugensis in the Coleccion Boliviana de Fauna from La Paz, Bolivia [32, 34]; and as L. signifer in the herpetological collection of Fundacion Miguel Lillo, Tucuman, Argentina
The morphological phylogenetic hypothesis indicates that Liolaemus sp. nov., belongs to the L. montanus group, together with Liolaemus etheridgei, Liolaemus evaristoi, Liolaemus famatinae, L. fittkaui, L. griseus, L. huacahuasicus, L. montanus, L. orko and, L. pulcherrimus (Fig 1)

Summary

Introduction

The genus Liolaemus includes more than 260 valid species [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], of small to medium-sized lizards distributed from Tierra del Fuego to the Ancash Region of Peru and is the second most speciose amniote clade at the global level [3, 7], surpassed only by Anolis. The subgenus Eulaemus is divided into three large monophyletic groups: the clade comprising the Liolaemus archeforus-kingii and Liolaemus lineomaculatus groups [19]; the Liolaemus boulengeri group (characterized by the presence of a patch of enlarged scales in the posterior mid region of the thigh) [9, 20]; and the L. montanus group, characterized by equal sized scales in the mid posterior region of the thigh [21, 22] The latter group is composed of more than 60 species [3], found mainly at high altitudes in the Andes of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. For many years and by many authors, the identity, distribution and diagnosis of several of these species were mistaken [23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28]

Methods

Results

Conclusion