The First Parthenogenetic Pleurodont Iguanian: A New All-female Liolaemus (Squamata: Liolaemidae) from Western Argentina

CRISTIÁN S. ABDALA, DIEGO BALDO, RICARDO A. JUÁREZ, ROBERT E. ESPINOZA

COPEIA

AMER SOC ICHTHYOLOGISTS HERPETOLOGISTS

Lugar: Lawrence; Año: 2016 p. 487 - 497

0045-8511

Vertebrate taxa with entirely unisexual populations are composed of females that reproduce without fertilization and are generally of hybrid origin. At least 23 vertebrate families have unisexual lineages. Within squamate reptiles, ~40 uniparental species have been described from five major lineages: acrodont iguanians, Gekkota, Serpentes, Scincomorpha, and Varanidae. Pleurodont iguanians include >1000 species, all of which have gonochoric reproduction. Here we report the discovery of a new unisexual lizard from the liolaemid genus Liolaemus, a species-rich (~230 species) clade distributed over most of southern South American. The new species, Liolaemus parthenos, is the only known all-female triploid pleurodont iguanian. The structural chromosome heteromorphisms of the karyotypes support the hypothesis that L. parthenos is the product of a hybrid origin. Based on morphology, the new species is assignable to the L. boulengeri group and a phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA indicates that L. parthenos is nested within L. darwinii, suggesting that the latter is the matrilineal progenitor of this new species. Additional data are needed to confirm that L. parthenos is parthenogenetic and identify its patrilineal ancestor.