CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Digital.CSIC 1 2 New Patagonian species of Liolaemus (Iguania: Liolaemidae) and novelty in the 3 lepidosis of the southernmost lizard of the world: Liolaemus magellanicus. 4 5 CRISTIAN SIMÓN ABDALA 1-2, DIEGO ESTEBAN PROCOPIO 3, OSCAR ANÍBAL 6 STELLATELLI 2-4, ALEJANDRO TRAVAINI 2-3, ALEJANDRO RODRÍGUEZ 5 & 7 MARIO RICARDO RUIZ MONACHESI 1-2 8 9 1 Instituto de Herpetología, Fundación Miguel Lillo - Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e 10 IML, UNT - Miguel Lillo 205, S. M. de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina- 11 [email protected] ; [email protected] . 12 2 CONICET – Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Argentina. 13 3 Centro de Investigaciones Puerto Deseado, Universidad Nacional de la Patagonia 14 Austral, Avenida Prefectura Naval s/n, 9050 Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz, Argentina- 15 [email protected] ; [email protected] . 16 4 Laboratorio de Vertebrados. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC) - 17 Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Dean Funes 3250, Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, 18 Argentina- [email protected] . 19 5Departamento de Biología de la Conservación, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, 20 Américo Vespucio s/n, E-41092 Sevilla, Spain- [email protected] . 21 22 23 24 25 Abstract. We describe a new species within the genus Liolaemus from southeast Argentine 26 Patagonia. This new taxon, Liolaemus yatel sp nov., presents anatomical traits shared with 27 the Liolaemus lineomaculatus section within the Liolaemus lineomaculatus group, 28 especially the absence of precloacal pores in both sexes. However, Liolaemus yatel sp nov. 29 does not exhibit trifid dorsal scales, which is a diagnostic character of the L. lineomaculatus 30 group. Moreover, this new species differs from other taxa of the L. lineomaculatus group in 31 that dorsal and nuchal scales either completely lack keels or are slightly keeled. We also 32 report, for the first time, the presence of trifid scales in Liolaemus magellanicus , another 33 species included in the L. lineomaculatus section but constituting an independent lineage 34 regarding the L. lineomaculatus group. The phenotypic traits of L. yatel sp nov. and the 35 presence of trifid scales in L. magellanicus provide additional information for the study of 36 evolutionary relationships among the species of the L. lineomaculatus section, especially 37 the establishment of their diagnostic character states. 38 39 Key words : Liolaemus lineomaculatus section, Liolaemus lineomaculatus group, 40 Morphology, New taxon, Patagonia, Argentina. 41 42 Resumen . Describimos una nueva especie para el género Liolaemus del sureste de la 43 Patagonia, Argentina.Este nuevo taxón, Liolaemus yatel sp nov., presenta rasgos 44 anatómicos compartidos con la sección de Liolaemus lineomaculatus , dentro del grupo de 45 Liolaemus lineomaculatus , especialmente la ausencia de poros precloacales en ambos 46 sexos. Sin embargo Liolaemus yatel sp nov. no exhibe escamas dorsales trífidas,que es uno 47 de los caracteres diagnósticos del grupo de L. lineomaculatus . Asimismo, esta nueva 48 especie se diferencia de los demás taxones del grupo de L. lineomaculatus en que las 49 escamas dorsales y nucales son lisas sin quilla o levemente quilladas. También reportamos, 50 por primera vez, la presencia de escamas trífidas en Liolaemus magellanicus , otra especie 51 incluida en la sección de L. lineomaculatus , pero que constituye un linaje independiente 52 respecto al del grupo de L. lineomaculatus . Los rasgos fenotípicos de L. yatel sp nov. y la 53 presencia de escamas trífidas en L. magellanicus proveeinformación adicional en el estudio 54 de las relaciones evolutivas entre las especies de la sección de L. lineomaculatus , 55 especialmente en el establecimiento de sus estados de caracteres diagnósticos. 56 57 Palabras clave : Sección de Liolaemus lineomaculatus , grupo de Liolaemus 58 lineomaculatus , Morfología, Nuevo taxón, Patagonia, Argentina. 59 60 61 Introduction 62 The genus Liolaemus is a group of highly diversified lizards currently comprising 258 63 species (Lobo et al. , 2010; Abdala et al. , 2011, 2012, Quinteros, 2012; Avila et al. , 2013; 64 Abdala & Quinteros, 2014), a figure that has increased exponentially during the last years 65 (Abdala et al. , 2010, 2011, 2012; Avila et al. , 2010; Quinteros & Abdala, 2011; Breitman 66 et al. , 2011a; Quinteros, 2012). On the basis of morphological and molecular characters, 67 two subgenera have been recognized within Liolaemus : Eulaemus or Argentine group and 68 Liolaemus sensu stricto or Chilean group (Laurent, 1983; Lobo et al. , 2010, Schulte et al. , 69 2000). Species assigned to each subgenus have been further classified into clades and 70 subclades and, whereas considerable progress has been made in their classification, 71 hypotheses about the phylogenetic relationships among these clades and about the species 72 that constitute each of them are not entirely clear (Morando et al. , 2004; Lobo, 2005; Avila 73 et al. , 2006; Abdala, 2007; Breitman et al. , 2011b, 2013; Quinteros, 2012; Olave et al ., 74 2014). 75 Etheridge (1995) reviewed the taxonomy of the genus Liolaemus and proposed, 76 among others, the Liolaemus lineomaculatus group, characterized by the absence of 77 precloacal pores in both sexes and the high density of dorsal trifid scales. According to the 78 phylogenetic hypothesis proposed by Breitman et al. (2011b, 2013), the L. lineomaculatus 79 group would consist of six taxa: Liolaemus lineomaculatus Boulenger, 1885, Liolaemus 80 hatcheri Stejnger, 1909, Liolaemus silvanae Donoso-Barros & Cei, 1971, Liolaemus 81 kolengh Abdala & Lobo, 2006, Liolaemus avilae Breitman et al. , 2011a and Liolaemus 82 morandae Breitman et al. , 2011a. The Liolaemus silvanae group contains three species 83 (Liolaemus hatcheri, Liolaemus kolengh and Liolaemus silvanae ) and species within this 84 group are characterized by the presence of keeled and imbricated nuchal scales and post- 85 femoral subimbricated scales (Abdala & Lobo, 2006). Previous studies by Etheridge (1995) 86 and Abdala & Lobo (2006) suggest that the Liolaemus silvanae group should best be placed 87 within the L. lineomaculatus group. According to Etheridge (1995) the L. lineomaculatus 88 group would be sister to Liolaemus magellanicus Hombron & Jacquinot, 1847. From its 89 general appearance, Liolaemus magellanicus resembles the species within the L. 90 lineomaculatus group, which are also small lizards, with bodies almost as long as wide, 91 usually with apparent dorsolateral bands, paravertebral subquadrangular blotches and 92 markedly keeled dorsal scales. However, males of L. magellanicus have precloacal pores, a 93 morphological character state which is absent in the L. lineomaculatus group (Etheridge, 94 1995), whereas several studies have reported the absence of dorsal trifid scales in L. 95 magellanicus (Cei, 1986; Etheridge, 1995; Abdala & Lobo, 2006; Breitman et al ., 2013). 96 A number of different taxonomic relationships have been proposed for the 97 Liolaemus lineomaculatus section (Breitman et al. , 2011a,b; 2013; Olave et al ., 2014) 98 within the genus Liolaemus . Etheridge (1995) placed the L. lineomaculatus group as well as 99 L. magellanicus within the nitidus group, including species belonging to the subgenus 100 Liolaemus sensu stricto or Chilean group. Subsequent studies suggested that the L. 101 lineomaculatus group and L. magellanicus would be members of the subgenus Eulaemus or 102 Argentine group (Young Downey, 1998; Morando, 2004; Schulte et al. , 2000). Breitman et 103 al . (2011b) proposed a molecular hypothesis concerning the L. lineomaculatus section, 104 which would be composed of the L. lineomaculatus group and a large clade comprising the 105 groups of L. magellanicus , L. somuncurae and L. kingii - archeforus . Recently, the 106 hypothesis by Breitman et al. (2013) that the L. somuncurae and L. kingii – archeforus 107 groups should be included within the L. kingii group has been supported by Olave et al . 108 (2014). 109 In this paper we describe a new species belonging to the Liolaemus 110 lineomaculatus section that was found in the north-central region of Santa Cruz Province, 111 Argentine Patagonia. Here, we use an integrative approach based on color pattern, 112 morphometric, meristic, and qualitative characters to describe this new species. We also 113 examine specimens of L. magellanicus in order to assess the presence of dorsal trifid scales 114 in this species. 115 116 Materials and methods 117 We examined series of specimens from the Liolaemus lineomaculatus clade, 118 particularly those of the L. lineomaculatus group (specimens from different collections, see 119 Appendix I). Liolaemus avilae (n = 2), L. hatcheri (n = 27), L. kolengh (n = 17), L. 120 lineomaculatus (n = 18), L. magellanicus (n = 46), L. morandae (n = 13), L. silvanae (n = 121 11), and bibliographic data of L. caparensis and L. avilae (Breitman et al ., 2011c; 2013), 122 were compared with nine specimens of the new species. We captured lizards with 123 permission of the National Parks Administration and the Wildlife Agency of Santa Cruz 124 Province. We collected the specimens with a noose and killed them with over-anaesthesia. 125 Fresh lizard bodies were fixed in 10% formalin and then stored in 70% ethanol. Appendix I 126 lists the specimens studied for this work. 127 We used 144 external morphological characters describing primarily lepidosis, 128 color patterns,