Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2022-06-07
Page range: 217-238
Abstract views: 826
PDF downloaded: 24

One more and one less: a new species of large bromelicolous lizard (Gymnophthalmidae: Anadia) from the Andean cloud forests of northwestern Colombia and the phylogenetic status of Anadia antioquensis

Laboratory of Biodiversity and Cloud Forests Conservancy, Bioconservancy, Jardín, Colombia.
Instituto de Biología, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia.
Department of Biological Sciences, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
Department of Biological Sciences, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
Department of Biological Sciences, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.
Laboratory of Biodiversity and Cloud Forests Conservancy, Bioconservancy, Jardín, Colombia.
Reptilia Anadia arboreal cloud forest lizard Gymnophthalmidae Neotropics

Abstract

The genus Anadia (family Gymnophthalmidae) consists of 19 species. It has remained almost taxonomically stable for decades, scarcely observed, in addition to being one of the less sampled gymnophthalmid genera with respect to molecular phylogenies. New Anadia species are discovered at a relatively low pace, and few specimens are found in the field, probably due to the arboreal habits of many low and mid elevation species. We describe here a new species of Anadia from the cloud forests of northwestern Colombia: the new species is easily diagnosed by the combination of shape and imbrication of dorsal scales, very large body size, the largest within its group, and large and non-overlapping number of longitudinal scale rows around midbody. We also tested the phylogenetic position of the recently described and geographically close A. antioquensis. A phylogenetic analysis based on four genomic regions recovered the new species as sister to A. buenaventura, whereas A. antioquensis was reassigned to the genus Riama. The new species is currently known from only three specimens, collected throughout eight years within less than 5 ha of the Mesenia-Paramillo Nature Reserve. Although its apparent rarity may be due to secretive habits, the species is provisionally declared vulnerable, while new information is available. To stimulate further research on this genus, we also compiled and present here the comparable information on the distribution and morphology of Anadia species. Altogether, the results stress the urge for a new review of the genus with the help of molecular data.

 

References

  1. Arredondo, J.C. (2013) A new species of gymnophthalmid lizard of the genus Anadia (Gymnophthalmidae: Cercosaurinae) from Northern Andes of Colombia. Amphibia-Reptilia, 34, 173–184. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685381-00002880
    Betancourt, R., Reyes-Puig, C., Lobos, S.E., Yánez-Muñoz, M.H. & Torres-Carvajal, O. (2020) Sistemática de los saurios Anadia Gray, 1845 (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) de Ecuador: límite de especies, distribución geográfica y descripción de una especie nueva. Neotropical Biodiversity, 4, 83–102. https://doi.org/10.1080/23766808.2018.1487694
    Brown, J.L., Twomey, E., Amézquita, A., De Souza, M.B., Caldwell, J.P., Lötters, S., von May, R., Melo-Sampaio, P.R., Mejía-Vargas, D., Pérez-Peña, P., Pepper, M., Poelman, E.H., Sánchez-Rodríguez, M. & Summers, K. (2011) A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical poison frog genus Ranitomeya (Amphibia: Dendrobatidae). Zootaxa, 3083 (1), 1–120. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3083.1.1
    Cavelier, J., Lizcano, D. & Pulido, M.T. (2001) Colombia. In: Kappelle, E. & Brown, M. (Eds), Bosques Nublados del Neotrópico. Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio), Costa Rica, pp. 443–496.
    Fang, J.M, Vásquez-Restrepo, J.D. & Daza, J.M. (2020) Filling the gaps in a highly diverse Neotropical lizard lineage: a new and endemic genus of Cercosaurinae (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) with the description of two new species from the Northern Andes of Colombia. Systematics and Biodiversity, 18, 417–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2020.1783714
    Harris, D.M. (1994) Review of the teiid lizard genus Ptychoglossus. Herpetological Monographs, 8, 226–275. https://doi.org/10.2307/1467082
    Harris, D.M. & Ayala, S.C. (1987) A new Anadia (Sauria: Teiidae) from Colombia and restoration of Anadia pamplonensis Dunn to species status. Herpetologica, 43, 182–190.
    Hoang, D.T., Chernomor, O, von Haeseler, A., Minh, B.Q. & Vinh, L.S. (2018) UFBoot2: Improving the ultrafast bootstrap approximation. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 35, 518–522. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx281
    Kalyaanamoorthy, S., Minh, B.Q., Wong, T.K.F., von Haeseler, A. & Jermiin, L.S. (2017) ModelFinder: Fast model selection for accurate phylogenetic estimates. Nature Methods, 14, 587–589. https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.4285
    Katoh, K. & Standley, D.M. (2013) MAFFT multiple sequence alignment software version 7: Improvements in performance and usability. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 30, 772–780. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mst010
    Kizirian, D.A. (1996) A review of Ecuadorian Proctoporus (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) with descriptions of nine new species. Herpetological Monographs, 10, 85–155. https://doi.org/10.2307/1466981
    Kok, P.J.R., MacCulloch, R.D., Means, D.B., Roelants, K., Van Bocxlaer, I. & Bossuyt, F. (2012) Low genetic diversity in tepui summit vertebrates. Current Biology, 22, 589–590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.06.034
    Kok, P.J.R., Means, D.B. & Rivas, G.A. (2013) First record of the genus Anadia (Reptilia: Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from Guyana based on an enigmatic specimen from Mount Kopinang, Wokomung Massif. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências Naturais, 8, 27–39. https://doi.org/10.46357/bcnaturais.v8i1.579
    Kumar, S., Stecher, G. & Tamura, K. (2016). MEGA7: Molecular evolutionary genetics analysis version 7.0 for bigger datasets. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 33, 1870–1874. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msw054
    La Marca, E. & García-Pérez, J.E. (1990) A new species of high Andean Anadia (Sauria: Teiidae) from paramo el Riecito, estado Trujillo, Venezuela. Herpetologica, 46, 275–282.
    Lundberg, J.G. & Dahdul, W.M. (2008) Two new cis-Andean species of the South American catfish genus Megalonema allied to trans-Andean Megalonema xanthum, with description of a new subgenus (Siluriformes: Pimelodidae). Neotropical Ichthyology, 6, 439–454. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1679-62252008000300018
    Machado, L.F., Leite, Y.L.R., Christoff, A.U. & Giugliano, L.G. (2013) Phylogeny and biogeography of tetralophodont rodents of the tribe Oryzomyini (Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae). Zoologica Scripta, 43, 119–130. https://doi.org/10.1111/zsc.12041
    Minh, B.Q., Schmidt, H.A., Chernomor, O., Schrempf, D., Woodhams, M.D., von Haeseler, A. & Lanfear, R. (2020) IQ-TREE 2: New models and efficient methods for phylogenetic inference in the genomic era. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 37, 1530–1534. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msaa015
    Myers, C.H., Williams, E.E. & Mcdiarmid, R.W. (1993) A new anoline lizard (Phenacosaurus) from the highland of Cerro de la Neblina, Southern Venezuela. American Museum Novitates, 3070, 1–15.
    Myers, C.W., Fuenmayor, G.R. & Jadin, R.C. (2009) New species of lizards from Auyantepui and La Escalera in the Venezuelan Guayana, with notes on “Microteiid” hemipenes (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae). American Museum Novitates, 2009, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1206/657.1
    Oftedal, O.T. (1974) A revision of the genus Anadia (Sauria, Teiidae). Arquivos de Zoologia, 25, 203–265. https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2176-7793.v25i4p203-265
    Rivas, G.A., Nunes, P.M.S., Dixon J.R., Schargel, W.E., Caicedo J.R., Barros, T.R. Camargo, E.G & Barrio−Amorós, C.L. (2012) Taxonomy, hemipenial morphology, and natural history of two poorly known species of Anadia (Gymnophthalmidae) from northern South America. Journal of Herpetology, 46, 33−40. https://doi.org/10.1670/10-139
    Rueda-Almonacid, J.V. & Caicedo, J.R. (2004) Una especie nueva de Anadia (Reptilia: Sauria: Gymnophthalmidae) para el noroccidente de la Cordillera Oriental de Colombia. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, 28, 281–284.
    Sánchez-Pacheco, S.J., Torres-Carvajal, O., Aguirre-Peñafiel, V., Nunes, P.M.S., Verrastro, L., Rivas, G.A., Rodrigues, M.T., Grant, T. & Murphy, R.W. (2017) Phylogeny of Riama (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae), impact of phenotypic evidence on molecular datasets, and the origin of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta endemic fauna. Cladistics, 34, 260–291. https://doi.org/10.1111/cla.12203
    Savage, J.M. (1997) On terminology for the description of the hemipenis of squamate reptiles. Herpetological Journal, 7, 23–­­25.
    Torres-Carvajal, O., Lobos, S.E., Venegas, P.J., Chávez, G., Aguirre-Peñafiel, V., Zurita, D. & Echevarría, L.Y. (2016) Phylogeny and biogeography of the most diverse clade of South American gymnophthalmid lizards (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae, Cercosaurinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 99, 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2016.03.006
    Vanegas-Guerrero, J. (2015) Reptilia, Sauria, Gymnophthalmidae, Anadia rhombifera (Günther, 1859): distribution extension and first records from Quindío department, Colombia. Check List, 11, 1512–3. https://doi.org/10.15560/11.1.1512
    Vásquez-Restrepo, J.D., Ibáñez, R., Sánchez-Pacheco, S.J. & Daza, J.M. (2020) Phylogeny, taxonomy and distribution of the Neotropical lizard genus Echinosaura (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae), with the recognition of two new genera in Cercosaurinae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 189, 287–314. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz124

  2.