Historia y taxonomía: redescripción de Liolaemus andinus Koslowsky, 1895 y descripción de dos nuevas especies de Liolaemus (Iguania: Liolaemidae)

Abstract

Due to lack of information about the precise type locality of Liolaemus andinus, and the subsequentloss of the type material, for a long-time various population of divergent morphologicalcharacteristics were assigned to this taxon, which caused the identification of the true L. andinusto become problematic. The present study started in 2004 and after sixteen years of research ofthe various populations assigned or related to this species, L. andinus is redescribed, a neotypeis assigned, and considerations on its probable provenance, and data on its biology and distributionare provided. Also, a hypothesis is presented on the provenance of L. andinus based onbiological and historical support evidence. The taxonomic position of populations that have beenassigned to and confused with L. andinus in the literature is determined, several of which haveaffinity with L. poecilochromus and L. rosenmanni. Morphology and molecular-based analysesperformed in this study allow us to describe two new Liolaemus species, previously confusedand identified as Liolaemus andinus. These new taxa inhabit the high Andes phytogeographicregion in Argentina, at altitudes above 3000 m a.s.l. One of these species is distributed in thesouthwest of Catamarca province and the other inhabits the central-western portion of LaRioja province. The most significant morphological differences between these new species andLiolaemus andinus are mainly the coloration pattern and some lepidosis characters related tonumber of scales.