Exploring the morphological diversity of Patagonian clades of Phymaturus (Iguania: Liolaemidae). Integrative study and the description of two new species

F. LOBO; D. BARRASSO; S. VALDECANTOS; GIRAUDO, A.; DI PIETRO, D.

CUADERNOS DE HERPETOLOGíA

ASOCIACIÓN HERPETOLÓGICA ARGENTINA

Lugar: San Miguel de Tucumán; Año: 2022 vol. 36 p. 197 - 231

0326-551X

In the present contribution, we revisited the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships withinthe somuncurensis and spurcus clades of Phymaturus lizards. Based on 296 morphologicalcharacters and DNA sequences, we evaluated the taxonomic species status of each clade andof two populations sampled in a field trip. Based on this evidence, we describe two new taxafor the genus. We also studied the species recently described for Chubut province, we analyzedtheir phylogenetic relationships, and compared them with other Patagonian species. Here, weprovide data of color in life, squamation, and measurements, and compare in detail the new taxato other members of their respective clades. We found that the somuncurensis clade comprisesnine species (plus two other candidate ones) distributed mostly peripherally to the Somuncuráplateau, and present on the margins of it in isolated creeks and small mountain chains. Recentmolecular studies arrived to different conclusions about the taxonomic validity of closely relatedspecies of the spurcus clade of Phymaturus lizards. We decided to revisit this group andcontribute with a more complete analysis for two reasons: none of these studies revisited carefullythe overall morphology and type series, and the only article that revisited this complexof species studied only one color pattern character, without providing voucher information(matching color types-collection specimens-DNA samples-sites). We studied the type series ofall species, revisited characters taken from squamation and measurements, revised the colorpattern of all terminals, and performed statistical analysis. Our results discovered statisticallysignificant characters, which provide enough morphological support to consider all species ofthe group as valid in congruence to the multilocus analysis that combined mitochondrial andnuclear data published recently. We also provide discrete color pattern characters that help toadequately differentiate these species.