Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Articles
Published: 2011-02-23
Page range: 61–66
Abstract views: 69
PDF downloaded: 1

Debating Liolaemidae diversity and classification, and a bit more: A response to Lobo et al.

Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Streatham Campus, Exeter, Devon, UK
Reptilia Liolaemidae Liolaemus Phymaturus lizards

Abstract

The Liolaemidae lizard evolutionary radiation has resulted from active spatial expansions into an extensive territorial area accompanied by active events of cladogenesis that have produced high levels of taxonomic and ecological diversity, especially within the Liolaemus genus. As a result, these lizards have been for decades the subject of intense taxonomic and systematic debates. Here, I provide an analysis of a recent paper where discussions on Liolaemidae diversity and classification involved biased and arbitrary interpretations and observations of two previously published monographs.

References

  1. Abdala, C.S. (2007) Phylogeny of the boulengeri group (Iguania: Liolaemidae, Liolaemus) based on morphological and molecular characters. Zootaxa, 1538, 1–84.

    Cruz, F.B., Fitzgerald, L.A., Espinoza, R.E. & Schulte, J.A. (2005) The importance of phylogenetic scale in tests of Bergmann’s and Rapoport’s rules: lessons from a clade of South American lizards. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 18, 1559–1574.

    Espinoza, R.E., Wiens, J.J. & Tracy, C.R. (2004) Recurrent evolution of herbivory in small, cold-climate lizards: breaking the ecophysiological rules of reptilian herbivory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 101, 16819–16824.

    Etheridge, R. (1995) Redescription of Ctenoblepharys adspersa Tschudi, 1845, and the taxonomy of Liolaeminae (Reptilia: Squamata: Tropiduridae). American Museum Novitates, 3142, 1–34.

    Frost, D.R. & Etheridge, R. (1989) A phylogenetic analysis and taxonomy of iguanian lizards (Reptilia: Squamata). University of Kansas Museum Natural History, Miscellaneous Publications, 81, 1–65.

    Frost, D.R., Etheridge, R., Janies, D. & Titus, T.A. (2001) Total evidence, sequence alignment, evolution of Polychrotid lizards, and a reclassification of the Iguania (Squamata: Iguania). American Museum Novitates, 3343, 1–38.

    Laurent, R.F. (1983) Contribución al conocimiento de la estructura taxonómica del género Liolaemus Wiegmann (Iguanidae). Boletín de la Asociación Herpetológica Argentina, 1, 15–18.

    Laurent, R.F. (1985) Segunda contribución al conocimiento de la estructura taxonómica del género Liolaemus Wiegmann (Iguanidae). Cuadernos de Herpetología, 1, 1–37.

    Lobo, F. & Espinoza, R.E. (2004) Two new Liolaemus from the Puna Region of Argentina and Chile: further resolution of purported reproductive bimodality in Liolaemus alticolor (Iguania: Liolaeminae). Copeia, 2004, 850–867.

    Lobo, F., Espinoza, R.E. & Quinteros, A.S. (2010) A critical review and systematic discussion of recent classification proposals for liolaemid lizards. Zootaxa, 2549, 1–30.

    Pincheira-Donoso, D., Hodgson, D.J., Stipala, J. & Tregenza, T. (2009) A phylogenetic analysis of sex-specific evolution of ecological morphology in Liolaemus lizards. Ecological Research, 24, 1223–1231.

    Pincheira-Donoso, D., Hodgson, D.J. & Tregenza, T. (2008a) Comparative evidence for strong phylogenetic inertia in precloacal signalling glands in a species-rich lizard clade. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 10, 11–28.

    Pincheira-Donoso, D., Hodgson, D.J. & Tregenza, T. (2008b) The evolution of body size under environmental gradients in ectotherms: why should Bergmann’s rule apply to lizards? BMC Evolutionary Biology, 8, 68.

    Pincheira-Donoso, D. & Núñez, H. (2005) Las especies chilenas del género Liolaemus. Taxonomía, sistemática y evolución. Santiago: National Museum of Natural History Press.

    Pincheira-Donoso, D., Scolaro, J.A. & Schulte, J.A. (2007a) The limits of polymorphism in Liolaemus rothi: molecular and phenotypic evidence for a new species of the Liolaemus boulengeri clade (Iguanidae, Liolaemini) from boreal Patagonia of Chile. Zootaxa, 1452, 25–42.

    Pincheira-Donoso, D., Scolaro, J.A. & Sura, P. (2008c) A monographic catalogue on the systematics and phylogeny of the South American iguanian lizard family Liolaemidae (Squamata, Iguania). Zootaxa, 1800, 1–85.

    Pincheira-Donoso, D., Tregenza, T. & Hodgson, D.J. (2007b) Body size evolution in South American Liolaemus lizards of the boulengeri clade: a contrasting reassessment. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 20, 2067–2071.

    Quinteros, A.S. & Lobo, F. (2009) The iguanian lizard Liolaemus barbarae Pincheira-Donoso and Núñez is a junior synonym of Liolaemus puna Lobo and Espinoza. Journal of Herpetology, 43, 336–339.

    Schulte, J.A., Losos, J.B., Cruz, F.B. & Núñez, H. (2004) The relationship between morphology, escape behaviour and microhabitat occupation in the lizard clade Liolaemus (Iguanidae: Tropidurinae: Liolaemini). Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 17, 408–420.

    Schulte, J.A., Macey, J.R., Espinoza, R.E. & Larson, A. (2000) Phylogenetic relationships in the iguanid lizard genus Liolaemus: multiple origins of viviparous reproduction and evidence for recurring Andean vicariance and dispersal. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 69, 75–102.

    Schulte, J.A. & Moreno-Roark, F. (2010) Live birth among Iguanian lizards predates Pliocene-Pleistocene glaciations. Biology Letters, 6, 216–218.