A New Species of Ameivula (Squamata, Teiidae) from Southern Espinhac¸O Mountain Range, Brazil
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Copeia 2014, No. 1, 95–105 A New Species of Ameivula (Squamata, Teiidae) from Southern Espinhac¸o Mountain Range, Brazil Federico Arias1,2, Celso Morato de Carvalho3, Hussam Zaher4, and Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues1 In a recent phylogenetic analysis of Teiidae based on morphological characters, three new genera were erected to remove polyphyletism in the genus Cnemidophorus. Accordingly, Ameivula was proposed to accommodate the species formerly included in the Cnemidophorus ocellifer group, characterized by the presence of granules in the supraocular semicircles, femoral pores fewer than 40, and preanal spurs absent. Here we describe a new species of Ameivula from the mountain region of Parque Nacional Serra do Cipo´ , Minas Gerais, that is apparently endemic to high elevations between 900 and about 1200 m. The new species can be easily distinguished from its congeners by the presence of three supraocular scales, a contact between frontoparietal scale and the third supraoculars (circumorbital with an incomplete series of granules), a third pair of chinshields larger than the others and low number of fourth finger lamellae. En un reciente ana´lisis filogene´tico de Teiidae, basado en caracteres morfolo´ gicos tres nuevos ge´neros fueron propuestos para eliminar el polifiletismo de Cnemidophorus. En consecuencia, Ameivula fue propuesto para acomodar a las especies antiguamente incluidas en el grupo de Cnemidophorus ocellifer, caracterizado por la presencia de semicı´rculos supraoculares, un bajo nu´ mero de poros femorales y ausencia de espinas en la base de la cloaca. Aquı´ describimos una nueva de este ge´nero de la regio´ n montan˜osa del Parque Nacional Serra do Cipo´ , estado de Minas Gerais, aparentemente ende´mica de elevaciones comprendidas entre 900 m y 1200 m. La nueva especie puede ser fa´cilmente distinguible de sus cogene´ricas por tener tres escamas supraoculares, escama frontoparietal en contacto con la tercera supraocular (semicı´rculo de gra´nulos incompletos), tercero par de geneiales ma´s grande que los dema´s y un nu´ mero bajo de lamellas del cuarto dedo de la mano. NTIL recently, the genus Cnemidophorus included region in western Argentina (Cei, 1993; Cabrera, 2004); 32 species arranged in four species groups (Arias (3) the new genus Contomastix which includes the species U et al., 2011a): the C. lemniscatus group, C. lacertoides previously referred to the C. lacertoides group (C. lacertoides, group, C. longicauda group, and C. ocellifer group. These C. serrana, C. vittata, C. vacariensis, and C. leachei) distributed lizards are distributed in South America from Lesser Antilles, throughout southern Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, and northern near Venezuela, to southern Argentina. Along this area they Argentina (Peters and Donoso-Barros, 1970; Harvey et al., inhabit a large diversity of environments, except for the 2012); and (4) the new genus Ameivula, composed of 12 Puna, being present in open areas within the Amazonian species and representing the C. ocellifer group (A. abaetensis, and Atlantic rainforests, Caatingas, Cerrado, Chaco, Campos A. abalosi, A. confusioniba, A. cyanura, A. jalapensis, A. Rupestres, Restingas, and the Monte in Argentina (Arias littoralis, A. mumbuca, A. nativa, A. nigrigula, A. ocellifera, A. et al., 2011a). pyrrhogularis, and A. venetacauda). In a recent work, Harvey et al. (2012) conducted a Arias et al. (2011b) recognized two morphologically phylogenetic analysis of the Teiidae based on 137 morpho- distinct assemblages in Ameivula: (1) the A. littoralis group logical characters for 87 terminal taxa. As previously composed of A. abaetensis, A. littoralis, A. cyanura, and A. suggested by molecular studies (Reeder et al., 2002; venetacauda sharing the presence of 1–2 row of tibiotarsal Giugliano et al., 2006), their phylogenetic analysis recovered spurs (4–6) in the males, six supraciliary scales, a high a polyphyletic genus Cnemidophorus. Based on these results, number of femoral pores (21–45), a row of enlarged scales in Harvey et al. (2012) divided Cnemidophorus into four the dorsal region of the arm, 8–10 rows of ventral scales, and monophyletic genera: (1) the genus Cnemidophorus, includ- a bright bluish-green tail; (2) the A. ocellifera group ing the species of the former C. lemniscatus group (C. composed of A. ocellifera, A. mumbuca, A. jalapensis, A. arenivagus, C. arubensis, C. cryptus, C. flavissimus, C. grami- nigrigula, and A. confusioniba sharing a low number of vagus, C. lemniscatus espeuti, C. lemniscatus gaigei, C. femoral pores (less than 20), enlarged scales in the temporal lemniscatus lemniscatus, C. lemniscatus splendidus, C. leucop- region (posteriorly to the third subocular), five supraciliary sammus, C. murinus, C. nigricolor, C. pseudolemniscatus, C. scales, 6–8 rows of ventral scales, and a brown tail. rostralis, C. ruthveni, C. senectus, and C. vanzoi) distributed Ameivula occurs in very distinct landscape physiognomies, throughout the islands of the southern Caribbean region such as the Caatinga (Vanzolini, 1974; Vanzolini et al., and open areas of the Amazon basin (Ugueto and Harvey, 1980; Vitt, 1983; Menezes et al., 2011), Cerrado (Vitt, 1991), 2010); (2) the new genus Aurivela which includes two species Restingas (Menezes and Rocha, 2011), and the Paraguayan (A. longicauda and A. tergolaevigata) from the Monte Desert and Argentinian Chaco (Cei, 1993; Cabrera, 2012). 1 Instituto de Bio y Geociencias (IBIGEO) del Noa, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Salta, Av. Bolı´via 5150, CP-4400, Salta, Argentina; E-mail: (FA) [email protected]. Send reprint requests to FA. 2 Instituto de Biocieˆncias, Universidade de Sa˜o Paulo, Departamento de Zoologia, Caixa Postal 11.46 1, CEP 05422-970, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil. 3 Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazoˆnia, Nu´cleo de Pesquisas de Roraima, Rua Coronel Pinto, 327, Centro, CEP 69301-150, Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil. 4 Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de Sa˜o Paulo, Caixa Postal 42694, CEP 04299-970, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil. Submitted: 8 April 2013. Accepted: 29 September 2013. Associate Editor: B. Stuart. F 2014 by the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists DOI: 10.1643/CH-13-037 96 Copeia 2014, No. 1 Fig. 1. Male Ameivula cipoensis, MZUSP 19684, from Serra do Cipo´, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. Here, we describe a new species of the genus Ameivula The following measurements were taken in mm: snout– from Parque Nacional da Serra do Cipo´, Southern of the vent length (SVL); head length; head height; head width; Espinhac¸o chain, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. trunk length; tail length; humeral length; forelimb length; The presence of a population of Ameivula in the moun- tibia length; femur length; foot length; and hindlimb length. tains of Serra do Cipo´ was long known and have been Scale measurements were taken using a digital caliper to the recorded in Brazilian collections through some preserved nearest 0.02 mm, under a stereomicroscope (10–40X). specimens from that area. However, it was only recently that The hemipenes of MZUSP 103276 and MZUSP 103280 the taxonomic identity of that population could be were prepared following procedures described by Manzani confirmed, owing to the examination of new material and Abe (1988), subsequently modified by Pesantes (1994) recently collected in the region and to the recent important and Zaher (1999; see also Zaher and Prudente, 2003). advances made in the taxonomic knowledge of the group. We compared the new species with all species of Ameivula and added to our comparisons data taken from the original descriptions of A. littoralis (Rocha et al., 2000), A. mumbuca MATERIALS AND METHODS (Colli et al., 2003), and A. jalapensis (Colli et al., 2009). Specimens were collected in the Parque Nacional da Serra do Specimens examined are deposited at the Museu de Zoologia Cipo´ with the aid of pitfall traps with drift fences, in da Universidade de Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil (MZUSP), Museu November of 2010. Terminology for scalation and hemi- Nacional do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (MNRJ), Fundacio´n penial morphology follows Harvey et al. (2012). The Miguel Lillo, Tucuma´n, Argentina (FML), Coleccio´n Herpe- following characters were taken from each specimen: tolo´gica de la Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Cor- supraocular and supraciliar scales on right side; femoral rientes, Argentina (UNNEC), and Coleccio´n Herpetolo´gica pores on both sides; longitudinal rows of ventral scales; Museo de Ciencias Naturales, Salta, Argentina (MCN). transverse rows of ventral scales, from gular fold to anterior margin of hindlimbs; subdigital lamellae under fourth finger Ameivula cipoensis, new species and fourth toe; longitudinal rows of enlarged scales in the Figures 1, 2; Table 1 dorsal region of the arm; scales around midbody, counted midway between fore- and hindlimbs excluding ventrals; Holotype.—MZUSP 103274, field number MRT 19611, adult enlarged scales of preanal plate; scales around tail, counted male, Brazil, state of Minas Gerais, Parque Nacional da Serra on the fourth transverse row, and dorsal scales, counted do Cipo´, 19u179240S, 43u32955.10W, elevation 1170 m, M. T. along the midline, from occiput to first transverse row of Rodrigues, R. Recoder, M. Teixeira, Jr., J. Cassimiro, M. A. scales around tail. In addition, we recorded the presence or Sena, H. Bonfim, and S. Teixeira, 20 November 2010. absence of enlarged scales in the temporal region, posterior to the third subocular; and presence or absence of tibiotarsal Paratypes.—MZUSP 103264, female, field number MTR spurs in the males. 19643, 19u17933.30S, 43u35925.50W; MZUSP 103265, female, Arias et al.—New Ameivula from Minas Gerais, Brazil 97 Fig. 2. Details of the head of Ameivula cipoensis, holotype, MZUSP 103274. (A) dorsal, (B) ventral, and (C) lateral view. Scale bar 5 5 mm. field number MTR 19667, 19u20957.00S, 43u37907.70W; 103279, male, field number MTR 20335, 19u21919.40S, MZUSP 103266, male, field number MTR 19684, 43u37906.70W; MZUSP 103280, male, field number MTR 19u1791.110S, 43u39934.560W; MZUSP 103267, female, field 20377, 19u17924.60S, 43u32955.10W; M. T. Rodrigues, R. number MTR 19580, 19u19911.70S, 43u32921.80W; MZUSP Recoder, M.