Abstract
Two new species of lizards assigned to the genus Euspondylus from the montane forests of the Peruvian Andes in the Pasco Department (central Peru) and Ayacucho Department (southern Peru) both at elevations of 2550 and 3450 m, respectively, are described. The new species are distinguishable from all other Peruvian and Ecuadorian species of Euspondylus by a unique combination of morphometric, scalation and color pattern characteristics. Natural history data for the new species and for Euspondylus spinalis are also provided.
Highlights
The family Gymnophthalmidae comprises about 36 genera and 160 species of small lizards with elongated thin bodies and relatively short limbs, which are reduced in various degrees in some species and nearly absent in others (Pianka and Vitt 2003)
The highest diversity of the genus Euspondylus occurs in Peru with eight species: E. caideni Köhler, E. guentheri (O’Shaughnessy), E. josyi Köhler, E. maculatus (Tschudi), E. nellycarrillae Köhler and Lehr, E. rahmi (De Grijs), E. simonsii (Boulenger), and E. spinalis (Boulenger), all of these with distributions restricted to a few localities with elevations ranging from 800–3310 m (Mijares-Urrutia et al 2001; Köhler 2003; Köhler and Lehr 2004)
For the comparisons only Ecuadorian, Peruvian, and Bolivian species of Euspondylus, Opipeuter, Petracola, Proctoporus and Riama were included because our purpose was to distinguish the two new species from any that could occur in sympatry or be similar
Summary
The family Gymnophthalmidae comprises about 36 genera and 160 species of small lizards with elongated thin bodies and relatively short limbs, which are reduced in various degrees in some species and nearly absent in others (Pianka and Vitt 2003).
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