A monographic catalogue on the systematics and phylogeny of the South American iguanian lizard family Liolaemidae (Squamata, Iguania)
Author
Pincheira-Donoso, Daniel
Author
Scolaro, J. Alejandro
Author
Sura, Piotr
text
Zootaxa
2008
2008-06-16
1800
1
85
journal article
86426
10.5281/zenodo.6789337
4885f120-14b4-425c-acc8-f2ba6960161c
11755334
6789337
Liolaemus tropidonotus
Boulenger
Liolaemus tropidonotus
Boulenger 1902: 397
(
type
locality: “Tirapata, E
Peru
,
13000 feet
”, see
Núñez 2004: 33
).
Liolaemus multiformis
Burt & Burt 1931: 227
(see
Núñez 2004
).
Observations:
Liolaemus tropidonotus
represents an additional controversial species apparently related to
L. annectens
and
L. signifer
. After its original description (
Boulenger 1902
),
Burt & Burt (1931)
placed this taxon into the synonymy of
L. multiformis
(which is in turn a synonym of
L. annectens fide
Laurent 1992
; see also
Etheridge & Espinoza 2000
). However, in a recent taxonomic reassessment,
Núñez (2004)
suggested that the
type
series of
L. tropidonotus
(preserved in the British Museum of Natural History of London) exhibits substantial patterns of morphological differentiation from the group of Andean species consisting of
L. annectens
,
L. pleopholis
and
L. signifer
(see
Cei 1993
;
Pincheira-Donoso & Núñez 2005
). This author concluded that the distinctive traits observed among these taxa do not support the idea of their synonymy, and that therefore,
L. tropidonotus
should be revalidated, at least while a more detailed evaluation provides contrary evidence. Since no other study has so far been presented, we follow
Núñez’s (2004)
criteria, and recognize
L. tropidonotus
as a species different from
L. annectens
and
L. signifer
. We believe that these morphological contrasts (see
Núñez 2004
, for details) may be the result of independent adaptive radiations leading to fully segregated phylogenetic lines.