Morphological and genetic divergence within the Phymaturus payuniae clade (Iguania: Liolaemidae), with description of two new species:

FERNANDO, LOBO; BARRASSO, DIEGO; HIBBARD, THOMAS; QUIPILDOR, MATIAS; SLODKI, DEMIAN; VALDECANTOS, SOLEDAD; BASSO, NESTOR

South American Journal of Herpetology

BioOne

Año: 2021 vol. 20 p. 42 - 66

1808-9798

The Phymaturus payuniae clade is an endemic group of lizards inhabiting rocky outcrops of central western Argentina. All recognized species are found in an endemism area called ?Payunia?. Recent studies using morphological data and DNA markers found that the payuniae clade is formed by at least ten terminal taxa. In the present study, we revisited the morphology of all previously considered terminals and analyzed two new populations discovered in Neuquén province in December 2016. The revised character list scored morphological characters for several taxa whose morphologies were unknown until this study. DNA data bases for the group were completed sequencing ND4 for three terminals as well as Cytb, COI, 12S and Cmos for another terminal. We estimated genetic distances for three mitochondrial markers among all members of the clade and calculated the evolutionary lability of morphological characters for the whole patagonicus group. Variation of 26 continuous characters for all members of the payuniae clade and species of other clades of the patagonicus and palluma group was analyzed with PCA. Additionally, we revised genital characters for all members of the group und included a description of the new taxa?s hemipenial morphology. Considering the distribution of morphological characters among species, their genetic distances, different genital morphology and the phylogenetic structure recovered, we are able to support the taxonomic status of all species of the group and add the formal description of two new members.