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Home , Stenocercus, Tropiduridae

Herpetology Notes, volume 10: 517-519 (2017) (published online on 06 October 2017)

Use of human-made buildings by (Iguania, )

Mateo Dávila-Jativa1 and Diego Cisneros-Heredia1,2,*

Human niche construction has reshaped and created to human ecosystem engineering has received little new environments, leading to alterations of attention. Herein, we present data about the regular use distribution across most taxonomic groups (Boivin et of human-made buildings by Stenocercus. al., 2016). Some species are able to benefit from direct We studied populations of Stenocercus angel Torres- interactions with humans or from resources produced by Carvajal, 2000, S. cadlei Torres-Carvajal & Mafla- human ecosystem engineering (Henderson and Powell, Endara, 2013, S. chota Torres-Carvajal, 2000, S. 2001; Boivin et al., 2016). In some cases, species even guentheri (Boulenger, 1885), S. iridescens (Gunther, adapt to live in anthropic or perianthropic conditions, 1859), S. puyango Torres-Carvajal, 2005 and S. varius dwelling in human-made buildings (Henderson and Boulenger, 1885 in urban, periurban, and rural areas Powell, 2001; Winchell et al., 2016). of , between 2002 and 2015. Additionally, we The Stenocercus includes 68 species of lizards, all made a literature search to find reports of human-made endemic to South America (Uetz et al. 2017). Stenocercus buildings use by Stenocercus. We searched Scopus are known to inhabit a wide variety of ecosystems, and Google Scholar databases on 15 February 2017, including tropical dry and rain forests, cloud montane using the search terms “Stenocercus”, and “buildings”, forests, paramo and puna highlands, from sea level up “walls”, “urban”, “rural”, “anthropo”, “house”, “roof”, to 4000 m (Torres-Carvajal, 2007). Across the northern “bath”, “city”, and their translations to Spanish, in Andes, Stenocercus is one of the most characteristic paired searches. elements of Andean communities (Torres- Stenocercus angel, S. cadlei, S. chota, S. guentheri, S. Carvajal, 2009). While several species of Stenocercus iridescens, S. puyango, and S. varius may occur, at least prefer pristine or low human-impact ecosystems; some marginally, in areas with secondary vegetation, crops, species have adapted to more anthropic environments— especially in rural agricultural areas, where they can be abundant in secondary vegetation and crops (Cadle, 1991; Torres-Carvajal, 2007). Despite the evolutionary and ecological interest in Stenocercus and strong anthropogenic pressure across its geographic range, the natural history, ecology and adaptation of Stenocercus

1 Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales COCIBA, Instituto de Zoología Terrestre & Museo de Zoología, Quito 170901, Ecuador 2 King’s College London, Department of Geography, London, UK Figure 1. Stenocercus varius foraging in the window of a * Corresponding author e-mail: building at Bosque Protector Río Guajalito, 21 March 2015, [email protected] 10h00–11h00. 518 Mateo Dávila-Jativa & Diego Cisneros-Heredia and pastures. However, only S. varius was observed (Cisneros-Heredia 2010). However, it is possible that, using human-made buildings to forage, bask, and as like to other members of its clade, S. haenschi at least refuge. The population of S. varius was surveyed at the partially adapted to live in modified habitats and future Bosque Protector Río Guajalito, (78°49ʹW 0°14ʹS, 1900 survey efforts should also look for this species in rural m), province of Pichincha, Ecuador, a research station and inhabited areas in the surroundings of its type mostly covered by Montane Cloud Forest, with human- locality. made buildings (houses and cellars) in small open areas surrounded by secondary forests. Stenocercus varius Acknowledgments. We thank Vlastimil Zak, owner of the Bosque frequently used roofs, walls, and window ledges during Protector Río Guajalito, for his kindness and help during our work; daytime. While roofs and walls were used mainly for Andrés León-Reyes and Martin Carrera for field companionship; Nicole Acosta-Vásconez, Emilia Peñaherrera and Izan Chalen basking and as refuges; windows were used to actively for lab support; Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ for catch insects attracted by indoor lights the night before. logistics and financial support (under project ID 48 “Taxonomía, Insects where captured by jumping from window jambs, Biogeografía y Conservación de Anfibios y ”); Programa catching them in the air, and landing in the sills—an “Becas de Excelencia”, Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, activity repeated for hours unless disturbed. Literature Tecnología e Innovación (SENESCYT) for supporting DFCH’s search revealed only two other reports of human-made research work. Research permit No. 001-16 IC-FLO-FAU-DNB� building use by Stenocercus: Stenocercus bolivarensis MA was issued by Ministerio de Ambiente del Ecuador. Castro & Ayala, 1982, found in several occasions inside bathrooms (Mantilla and Castaño, 2015); and S. References chinchaoensis Venegas, Duran & Garcia-Burneo, 2013, Boivin, N.L., Zeder, M.A., Fuller, D.Q., Crowther, A., Larson, G., found basking on house walls (Venegas et al., 2013). Erlandson, J.M., Deham, T., Petraglia, M.D. (2016): Ecological Use of human-made buildings by Stenocercus seems consequences of human niche construction: Examining long- to be related with the availability of resources providing term anthropogenic shaping of global species distributions. better opportunities for foraging, basking, and refuge. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(23): 6388–6396. Physical attributes of the perches in human-made Cadle, J.E. (1991): Systematics of lizards of the genus Stenocercus buildings are different from those in natural habitats; (Iguania: Tropiduridae) from northern Perú: new species and they are usually larger, broader, more homogeneous, and comments on relationships and distribution patterns. Proceedings warmer. How Stenocercus lizards are adapting to these of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 143: 1–96. new conditions should be further investigated. External Cisneros-Heredia, D.F. (2010): Stenocercus haenschi. The IUCN windows offer greater quantity of food and increased Red List of Threatened Species 2010: e.T178690A7596550. possibilities of finding prey, because invertebrates http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2010-4.RLTS. drawn to windows by indoor lighting remain during the T178690A7596550.en Henderson, R.W., Powell, R. (2001): Responses by the West Indian day in great quantities (Perry et al., 2008). herpetofauna to human-influenced resources. Caribbean Journal Stenocercus bolivarensis and S. varius are members of Science 37(1/2): 41–54. of the Microphractus Gunther clade (Torres-Carvajal et Mantilla, J.C., Castaño, J.H. (2015): Distribution extension and al., 2006, 2009). Based on morphological and ecological ecology notes of endemic lizard Stenocercus bolivarensis Castro similarities (see Venegas et al. 2013), it is probable that & Ayala, 1982 (: Tropiduridae). Herpetology Notes 8: S. chinchaoensis is also a member of this clade. Species 575–577. of Microphractus are arboreal lizards, and the ability to Perry, G., Buchanan, B.W., Fisher, R.N., Salmon, M., Wise, S.E. (2008): Effects of artificial night lighting on amphibians exploit such niche may have allowed them to expand and reptiles in urban environments. Chapter 16. In: Urban into human-made buildings. Interestingly, one of the Herpetology, p. 239–256. Mitchell, J.C., Jung Brown, R.E., rarest species of Stenocercus in the Andes, S. haenschi Bartholomew, B., Eds., Cincinnati, USA, Society for the Study (Werner, 1901), belongs to the Microphractus clade of Amphibians & Reptiles, Herpetological Conservation 3. (Torres-Carvajal, 2009). Stenocercus haenschi remains Torres-Carvajal, O. (2007): A taxonomic revision of South American known from its original description and efforts have Stenocercus (Squamata: iguania) lizards. Herpetological been made to find it in forest remnants with no success. Monographs 21(1): 76–178. Currently, S. haenschi is listed in The IUCN Red List Torres-Carvajal, O. (2009): Sistemática filogenética de las lagartijas del género Stenocercus (Squamata: Iguania) de los Andes del of Threatened Species under the Critically Endangered norte. Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad 80(3): 727–740. category, due to its small inferred extent of occurrence, Torres-Carvajal, O., Schulte, J.A., Cadle, J.E. (2006): Phylogenetic which is under severe pressure by habitat loss due to relationships of South American lizards of the genus Stenocercus natural vegetation being largely replaced by plantations (Squamata: Iguania): a new approach using a general mixture Use of human-made buildings by Stenocercus lizards 519

model for gene sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39(1): 171–185. Uetz, P., Freed, P., Hošek, J. (2017): The Database. Available at: http://www.reptile-database.org. Accessed on 11 August 2017. Venegas, P.J., Duran, V., Garcia-Burneo, K. (2013): A new species of arboreal iguanid lizard, genus Stenocercus (Squamata: Iguania), from central . Zootaxa 3609(3): 291–301. Winchell, K.M., Reynolds, R.G., Prado-Irwin, S.R., Puente-Rolón, A.R., Revell, L.J. (2016): Phenotypic shifts in urban areas in the tropical lizard Anolis cristatellus. Evolution 70(5): 1009–1022.

Accepted by Ariel Rodríguez