Phylogeny of the L. boulengeri group (Iguania: Liolaemidae, Liolaemus) based on morphological and molecular characters.

CRISTIAN S. ABDALA

ZOOTAXA

Año: 2007 vol. 1538 p. 1 - 84

1175-5326

The genus Liolaemus belongs to the family Liolaemidae, together with the genera Phvmaturus and Ctenoblepharys, and for its diversity, it can only be compared with the genus Anolis among the iguanians because at the present, about 200 species are recognized in the literature and almost every year new taxa are described. Also, this genus is diverse and is widely distributed from central Peru to Tierra del Fuego at the southern end of the continent and lizards of this genus live in a variety of habitats in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Paraguay, the Uruguay coasts and southeastern Brazil. Due to the great morphological diversity and to their extensive distribution, many authors have divided and classified species of the genus in different ways, describing other genera, subgenera, groups and complexes of species that, in turn, have changed through the time. One of the groups now recognized is the boulengeri group, also called ´´the patch group," because it is characterized by the presence of a group of enlarged scales on the posterior surface of the thigh. This group has also undergone continuous taxonomic modifications, mainly about the number of species that form part of it, since new species are continually described inside the group. In the last two years nine species were described, and apparently it might include up to 60 taxa in total and not only the 46 that are recognized now. The boulengeri group is widely distributed in Argentina, and is also found in Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. Several species of the group are endemic, while others have a wide distribution. The species of the group have a great variety of characteristics, in reference to their “life histories:" oviparous and viviparous, insectivorous, omnivorous and herbivorous species, saxicolous and psammophilous, with and without sexual dichromatism, etc.             In this work the phylogeny of the boulengeri group was recovered, using the approach of parsimony, combining morphological and molecular characters. The morphological phylogeny is also presented using the method of implied weights. Several morphological characters used, mainly referred to color pattern, are original in this work. Also provided is the history of the classifications and taxonomic arrangements for the genus Liolaemus, a review about the femoral patch, and there is a critical study of the different relationship hypotheses found within the boulengeri group. Based on the results of the total evidence analysis, the boulengeri group is redefined, the phylogenetic position of the anomalus group’s species is analyzed, a new classification is proposed based on clades and subclades recovered in this analysis, and an identification key is presented for the males of the species of the group under study.