Review of the present status of Leiosaurae: taxonomy, distribution, and conservation issues

AVILA, LUCIANO J.; SÁNCHEZ, KEVIN IMANOL; VRDLOJAK, J.E.; MORANDO, MARIANA

New York

Simposio; Camp' 23: Celebrating 100 years of Charles L. Camp's Classification of the Lizards; 2023

American Musem of Natural History

Knowledge of manySouth American lizard taxa is still limited, and probably one of the mostnotorious examples is a group named Leiosaurae including lizards of the generaDiplolaemus, Leiosaurus, and Pristidactylus. This clade is among thesouthernmost distributed lizard clades in the world and despite several recentstudies, information about its taxonomy and distribution are still scarce,partial, or fragmentary. Thirty-five years ago, Etheridge and de Queirozapplied the informal name "leiosaurs" to a slightly more inclusivegroup of iguanids that incorporated some species previously named by Etheridgeas the para-anoles. Later, that group was recognized as a well-supported cladeusing several sources of evidence, including external and internal morphologyand molecular markers, with Enyaliinae (Enyalius, Anisolepis, and Urostrophus)as its sister clade. Lizards of the Leiosaurae clade are distinctive inmorphology and usually characterized by stout bodies and legs, robust heads,and short tails that usually do not autotomize. Almost all the species occur inxeric habitats of southern South American including Patagonian Steppe, Monte,Arid Chaco, and southern portions of Puna-High Andes, all areas subjected toincreasing human activities. Fragmentary studies have been carried out butalways including only a few individuals or limited to unique species or genera.The main objective of this study is to review present knowledge of thesystematic, distribution, and conservation status of the species included inthe clade Leiosaurae, highlighting the lack of information and needed lines ofresearch.