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An Endemic and Endangered New Species of the Lizard Liolaemus montanus Group from Southwestern Peru (Iguania: Liolaemidae), with a Key for the Species of the L. reichei Clade.

ABSTRACT: The southwestern Andes of Peru harbor a hidden taxonomic diversity of reptiles. We describe a new species of Liolaemus Wiegmann (Iguania: Liolaemidae) from xerophytic environments of the southwestern slopes of the Andes of Peru, 2,400-2,900 m asl. The new species, previously considered to be a population of L. insolitus Cei, exhibits unique diagnostic characters of morphology, scalation and color pattern, and molecular evidence that suggest that it belongs in the Liolaemus montanus species group and the L. reichei clade. Moreover, the species is endemic to the eastern slopes of La Caldera batholith in the Department of Arequipa, southern Peru. We also provide information on the conservation status of the species and suggest it be included in the IUCN red list of the threatened species as endangered (EN). A key for the species of the L. reichei clade is provided.

SUBMITTER: Quiroz AJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8598978 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The genus Liolaemus is one of the most ecologically diverse and species-rich genera of lizards worldwide. It currently includes more than 250 recognized species, which have been subject to many ecological and evolutionary studies. Nevertheless, Liolaemus lizards have a complex taxonomic history, mainly due to the incongruence between morphological and genetic data, incomplete taxon sampling, incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization. In addition, as many species have restricted and remote distributions, this has hampered their examination and inclusion in molecular systematic studies. The aims of this study are to infer a robust phylogeny for a subsample of lizards representing the Chilean clade (subgenus Liolaemus sensu stricto), and to test the monophyly of several of the major species groups. We use a phylogenomic approach, targeting 541 ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) and 44 protein-coding genes for 16 taxa. We conduct a comparison of phylogenetic analyses using maximum-likelihood and several species tree inference methods. The UCEs provide stronger support for phylogenetic relationships compared to the protein-coding genes; however, the UCEs outnumber the protein-coding genes by 10-fold. On average, the protein-coding genes contain over twice the number of informative sites. Based on our phylogenomic analyses, all the groups sampled are polyphyletic. Liolaemus tenuis tenuis is difficult to place in the phylogeny, because only a few loci (nine) were recovered for this species. Topologies or support values did not change dramatically upon exclusion of L. t. tenuis from analyses, suggesting that missing data did not had a significant impact on phylogenetic inference in this data set. The phylogenomic analyses provide strong support for sister group relationships between L. fuscus, L. monticola, L. nigroviridis and L. nitidus, and L. platei and L. velosoi. Despite our limited taxon sampling, we have provided a reliable starting hypothesis for the relationships among many major groups of the Chilean clade of Liolaemus that will help future work aimed at resolving the Liolaemus phylogeny.

Dataset Information

An Endemic and Endangered New Species of the Lizard Liolaemus montanus Group from Southwestern Peru (Iguania: Liolaemidae), with a Key for the Species of the L. reichei Clade.

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