Andersson, 1914) with Notes on the Type Locality
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Volume 50(2):31‑41, 2010 Lectotype designation and redescription of the gymnophthaLmid Lizard Riama columbiana (andersson, 1914) with notes on the type LocaLity santiago J. sanchez-pacheco1,2 AbstrAct The poorly known Riama columbiana, Andean gymnophthalmid lizard from Colombia, is redescribed on the basis of syntypes and additional material. A lectotype is designated, its likely provenience is discussed, and its distribution and natural history are given. Keywords: Andes; Colombia; Gymnophthalmidae; South America; Squamata; Taxonomy. IntroductIon taxonomy of Riama (and related genera), resulting in an underestimation of species diversity and the Significant advances have recently been made variation within each. The genus Riama includes 25 in the systematics of the lizard family Gymnoph- recognized species that occur throughout the Andes thalmidae and the tribe Cercosaurini (Pellegrino of central Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, the et al., 2001; Castoe et al., 2004). Doan (2003) per- Cordillera de la Costa of Venezuela and Trinidad and formed a morphology-based phylogenetic analy- Tobago (Doan & Castoe, 2005; Rivas et al., 2005). sis of all known species of the Andean Proctoporus Currently, in Colombia the genus is represented by Tschudi and found the genus to be monophyletic. four species, three of which are endemic (R. columbi- Subsequently, Castoe et al. (2004) analyzed molecu- ana, R. laevis and R. striata) and one that occurs on lar evidence and found that Neusticurus Duméril & the border with Ecuador (R. simotera). Bibron and Proctoporus were polyphyletic, the lat- Anderson’s (1914) description of Riama colum- ter being divided into at least two distantly related biana is brief and is based on four specimens from clades. Doan & Castoe (2005) proposed a mono- “Colombia”; therefore, there has been confusion in phyletic taxonomy in which they divided the spe- the identification of this species leading to some errors cies of Proctoporus sensu lato into three monophyletic in the literature. In addition, R. columbiana remains genera: Proctoporus sensu stricto from Peru and Bo- rare in collections and has only been mentioned in livia, Riama Gray from central Peru, Ecuador, Co- passing since its short original description. In light of lombia, Venezuela and the islands of Trinidad and the confusion surrounding the identity of this species Tobago, and Petracola Doan & Castoe from central and its relevance to the diagnosis of a number of spe- and northern Peru. cies of Colombian Riama, I provide a detailed rede- However, progress in Cercosaurini systematics scription of R. columbiana based on 16 specimens (in- is still hindered in part by the inadequacy of alpha cluding the type series), designate a lectotype, discuss 1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia Animal, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, Avenida Bento Gonçalves, 9500, 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. 2. Research Associate, Conservation International-Colombia, Bogotá, D.C. Colombia. E-mail: [email protected]. 32 Sanchez-Pacheco, S.J.: Redescription of Riama columbiana its likely provenience, and describe its distribution number. The syntypes were originally catalogued to- and some aspects of natural history. gether as NRM 1631, and were later separated un- der NRM 1631, NRM 1633, NRM 1634 and NRM 6168. NRM 6168 is badly damaged and is currently MAterial And Methods broken in several parts: the head in two parts, the body in two parts, and the two mani are detached. Snout-vent length (SVL) was measured with The neck of the female NRM 1634 is damaged. The digital caliper (0.05 mm accuracy and rounded to the male NRM 1631 and the female NRM 1633 are well nearest 0.1 mm). The diagnosis and the description preserved, with the exception of the loss of pigmenta- follow the format of Kizirian (1996) in order to fa- tion on the right side of the head of NRM 1631. Of cilitate comparisons with other species of Riama. I ex- the two undamaged specimens, only the male NRM amined comparative material of all described and one 1631 can be positively associated with Andersson’s undescribed species of Riama from Colombia and 15 (1914) description. In this specimen, the left hind taxa from Ecuador, Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago limb has nine femoral pores, while the right hind limb (specimens examined are listed in Appendix). In addi- has 10. This corresponds with both Andersson’s draw- tion, some comparative data were taken from species ing in fig. 1C, which shows a male left hind limb with descriptions in Uzzell (1958), Kizirian (1996), Doan nine femoral pores, and his description, which reports & Schargel (2003), Köhler & Lehr (2004) and Rivas “femoral pores nine or ten”. The female syntypes lack et al. (2005). Bilateral variation is reported as: left/ femoral pores and the description lacks any details to right. Sex was determined by noting the presence of distinguish them, and the remaining specimen is too hemipenes. The following institutional abbreviations badly damaged to be associated with the description. are used herein: NRM [also NHRM, Frost (2009)] As such, I designate the male NRM 1631 as lectotype. (Naturhistoriska Rijkmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden – A description of the lectotype is given below. Swedish Museum of Natural History), ICN (Insti- tuto de Ciencias Naturales – Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia), IAvH (Instituto species account de Ivestigación de los Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, Villa de Leiva, Colombia), MHUA Riama columbiana (Andersson, 1914) (Museo de Historia Natural Universidad de Antio- Figs. 1‑4 quia, Medellin, Colombia), MHNUC (Museo de Historia Natural Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Proctoporus columbianus Andersson, 1914:3-6 [Origi- Colombia), QCAZ (Museo de Zoología, Pontifica nal description. Syntypes from “Colombia”, Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador), Collected by P. Nisser] AMNH (American Museum of Natural History, Riama columbiana (Andersson): Doan & Castoe, New York, USA), KU (University of Kansas, Mu- 2005:409 [first use of combination] seum of Natural History, Lawrence, USA), USNM (National Museum of Natural History, Washington, Lectotype − NRM 1631, an adult male collected ap- D.C., USA), MCZ (Museum of Comparative Zool- proximately 1825-1832 by Pedro Nisser. Fig. 1. ogy, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA), FMNH (Field Museum, Chicago, USA), UMMZ (Univer- Type locality − Colombia, probably in Municipio sity of Michigan, Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, de Sonsón, Departamento de Antioquia. The local- USA) and CHEC (Central Hidroeléctrica de Caldas, ity reported by Andersson was simply “Colombia”. Colombia). Slightly more information is found on the jar label at NRM, which states “probably from the Rio Mag- dalena area”. The syntypes were collected by Pedro results Nisser, probably between 1825 and 1832. He was a Swedish miner that arrived in Colombia in 1825; he designation of lectotype married Maria Martínez de Nisser, a famous woman of the post-independence revolution in Colombia, for Andersson (1914) described Proctoporus colum- which there is a vast historical literature about her and bianus based on four specimens in the Swedish Mu- her husband (e.g. Wassen, 1969 among others). Pedro seum of Natural History, two males and two females, Nisser lived in the south of Antioquia Department, none of which was referenced with a specific collection Sonsón Municipality, where he occasionally collected Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, 50(2), 2010 33 specimens of fauna that were sent or taken to the and a male respectively), a series collected on 19 NRM. Although he did not always live in Sonsón, February 2008 by Taran Grant at (2) Bosques de la his works in Colombia were at the southern area of CHEC, predio La Mesa, vereda Montaño, municipio Antioquia department, which, together with records de Villa María, departamento de Caldas, Colombia, of distribution of specimens of Riama columbiana re- 2640 m, approximately 4°57.864’N, 75°25.967’W; cently collected, leads me to believe that the syntypes ICN 11299-01 (a male, a juvenile female and a juve- were collected in the area. nile male respectively), a series collected on August- October 2006 by Susana Velásquez and José Cirel Paralectotypes − NRM 1633-34 and NRM 6168, two Lopez at (3) Bosques de la CHEC, predio La Mesa, females and a badly damaged specimen (respectively) vereda Montaño, municipio de Villa María, departa- collected with the lectotype. mento de Caldas, Colombia, 2600 m, approximately 04°58’6”N, 75°26’11”W; MHNUC 0088, a female Referred material (Numbers in parentheses correspond collected on 6 May 2007 by Julian Andres Rojas at to the localities in the map of the Fig. 3) – ICN 11302, (4) vereda Montaño, municipio de Villa María, de- a male collected on March 2007 by Luis Felipe Barre- partamento de Caldas, Colombia, 2450 m; IAvH-R ra at (1) finca La Cristalina, vereda La Cristalina, mu- 5194, a female collected by A. Pulido at (5) Parque nicipio de Neira, departamento de Caldas, Colombia, Municipal Campo Alegre, municipio de Santa Rosa 2300 m, approximately 05°10’24.2”N, 75°26’53”W; de Cabal, departamento de Risaralda, Colombia; ICN 11295-98 (a female, a juvenile male, a female IAvH-R 4941, a female collected at (6) Santuário de FIgure 1: A) Dorsal and b) ventral view of the lectotype (NRM 1631 [SVL: 73.4 mm]) of Riama columbiana. Photos: Santiago J. Sánchez-Pacheco. 34 Sanchez-Pacheco, S.J.: Redescription of Riama columbiana Fauna y Flora Otun Quimbaya, departamento de Ri- complete [= loreal present]), femoral pores in males 6 saralda, Colombia, approximately 4°43’N, 75°34’W; or 7 (9-10), in females 5-7 (0-2) and scales between ICN 6479, a female collected on 31 May 1981 by femoral pores in males usually two (5-6). J.D. Lynch (7) between the haciendas El Brillante and All Ecuadorian and Peruvian Riama: R. balnea- San Julian, vereda San Julian, municipio de Calarcá, tor, R. cashcaensis, R. labionis, R.