A new bush anole (Iguanidae, Polychrotinae, Polychrus) from the upper Maranon basin, Peru, with a redescription of Polychrus peruvianus (Noble, 1924) and additional information on Polychrus gutturosus Berthold, 1845
Author
Koch, Claudia
Author
Venegas, Pablo J.
Author
Garcia-Bravo, Antonio
Author
Boehme, Wolfgang
text
ZooKeys
2011
141
79
107
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.141.1678
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.141.1678
1313-2970-141-79
Polychrus gutturosus Berthold, 1845
Polychrus gutturosus
Berthold, Nachrichten von der Georg-Augusts
Universitaet
und der
Koeniglichen
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu
Goettingen
, 3: 38. - Terra typica:
Popayan
, western Colombia. - 1845
Polychrus gutturosus
- Berthold, Nachrichten von der Georg-Augusts
Universitaet
und der
Koeniglichen
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu
Goettingen
, 8-10: 11. - 1846
Polychrus (Chaunolaemus) multicarinatus
Peters, Monatsberichte der
koeniglich
Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1869 (11): 768. - Terra typica: Costa Rica. - 1869
Polychrus gutturosus
- Boulenger, Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum, 2: 100. - 1885
Polychrus spurrelli
Boulenger, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1914: 814. - Terra typica: near
Pena
Lisa, Condoto, Colombia. - 1914
Polychrus gutturosus
- Burt and Burt, Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, 28: 40. - 1933
Polychrus gutturosus gutturosus
- Parker, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 105 (3): 516. - 1935
Polychrus gutturosus spurrelli
- Parker, Proceedings of the Zoological S ociety o f London, 105 (3): 516. - 1935
Polychrus gutturosus
- Etheridge, Herpetologica, 21: 167. - 1965
Polychrus gutturosus
- Peters and Donoso-Barros, Smithsonian I nstitution Press, Washington D.C. & London: 233. - 1970
Polychrus gutturosus spurrelli
- Peters and Dono so-Barros, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. & London: 234. - 1970
Polychroides gutturosus
- Peters and Donoso-Barros, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. & London: 233. - 1986
Polychrus gutturosus spurrelli
- Peters and Donoso-Barros, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. & London: 234. - 1986
Polychrus gutturosus
- Roberts, Herpetological Review, 28 (4): 184. - 1997
Polychrus gutturosus
-
Koehler
, Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach: 83. - 2000
Polychrus spurrellii
- Torres-Carvajal, Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service, 131: 21. - 2001
Polychrus gutturosus
- Savage, University of Chicago Press, 2 nd edition: 445. - 2002
Polychrus gutturosus
-
Koehler
, Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach: 13 7. - 2003
Polychrus spurrelli
-
Yanez-Munoz
et al., Check List, 2 (2): 63. - 2006
Diagnosis
(Tab. 3). (1) A
Polychrus
with a maximum known SVL of 170 mm; (2) dorsal and gular crest absent; (3) 63 to 82 scales around midbody; (4) 75 to 105 scales in middorsal row from behind the occipital scales to the level of the posterior edge of the thigh; (5) femoral pores 9 to 21 on one side (Fig. 6E); (6) lamellae on finger IV 25-36; (7) lamellae on toe IV 35-45 (Fig. 6D); (8) tail 2.36-3.55 times longer than SVL; (9) dorsal scales smooth or with 1-3 keels; (10) ventral scales with 1-5 keels; (11) gular scales oval, mostly striated, much larger than ventrals, those on gular fan widely separated by granular skin (Fig. 6C); (12) a sexual dichromatism present.
Table 3. Summary of morphometric and pholidosis characters of
Polychrus gutturosus
Figure 6. Male specimen of
Polychrus gutturosus
(SMF 83024): dorsal A lateral B and ventral C views of head; ventral aspect of right foot D ventral view of left thigh with femoral pores E.
Description
. For detailed descriptions of shape, structure and arrangement of the scales see
Taylor (1956)
and
Savage (2002)
.Our examined female specimens (n=15) had a maximum SVL of 152 mm, a maximum tail length of 539 mm, a maximum total length of 691 mm, a maximum head length of 33.3 mm and a maximum head width of 26.4 mm. The male specimens (n=10) had a maximum SVL of 122 mm, a maximum tail length of 429 mm, a maximum total length of 549.8 mm, a maximum head length of 28.1 mm and a maximum head width of 22.2 mm. Rostral bordered posteriorly by normally 4 striated scales (3 in one specimen: ZFMK 40832; 5 in another specimen: MHNG 2531.062). Scales on snout heterogeneous in size, irregularly polygonal, juxtaposed, rugose and striated; 1-6 scales across snout between second canthals. 2-3 striated canthals between nasal and supraciliaries. Supraorbital semicircle distinct (Fig. 6A), with 7-13 scales, separated medially by normally one scale (0 in two specimens: BM 1901.3.29.19, MHNG 2531.062; 2 in another specimen: ZFMK 19047). Supraciliaries 7-11, juxtaposed, striated; in a continuous series with canthals. Supraocularies 12-18. Internasals 3-5.Supralabials 4-8, strongly striated with 2-6 keels; followed to commissure of mouth by 2-4 slightly smaller scales.
Infralabials
4-6, strongly striated with 3-8 keels; followed to commissure by 1-4 distinctly smaller scales (Fig. 6B). Mental approximately half divided by a median groove in 17 specimens, almost divided in 5 specimens, medially divided in one specimen and divided into numerous small scales in one specimen. Postmentals striated (Fig. 6C), normally 2 (5 in one specimen: ZFMK 25729). Supratemporals 4-5; scales in temporal region striated.
Paravertebral scales mostly keeled, only some are smooth; lateral body scales smooth or with 1-3 keels, fore- and hindlimbs dorsally with one or more keels, ventrally multicarinate. Ventral body scales with 1-5 keels.
Other morphological characters of the 27 examined individuals are summarized in Table 3.
Descriptions of the colouration in life (Fig. 7A, B) are given by
Breder (1946)
,
Koehler
(2003b)
,
Ortleb and Heatwole (1965)
and
Savage (2002)
and a description of the colour in preservative is provided by
Taylor (1956)
.
Figure 7.
Polychrus gutturosus
from near
Rio
San Juan, Nicaragua (photographs by G.
Koehler
): male A SMF 83024 and female B SMF 83422.
Distribution and natural history.
From northwestern Honduras and western Costa Rica to northwestern Ecuador (
Koehler
2003a
,
Savage 2002
) from sea level to
1300
m elevation (
Castro-Herrera and Vargas-Salinas 2008
). According to
Duellman (1979)
, the species occurs on the Pacific slopes of the Cordillera Occidental in Colombia and Ecuador, the northern parts of the Colombian cordilleras and in the high lands in lower Central America. According to
Peters (1967)
and(
Peters and Donoso-Barros (1970
, 1986),
Polychrus gutturosus gutturosus
is distributed from the higher western Andean slopes of Ecuador and Colombia and northward to Costa Rica and Nicaragua; whereas
Polychrus gutturosus spurrelli
occurs in lowland rain forests of northwestern Ecuador and Colombia. According to
Savage (2002)
, the species occurs in undisturbed lowland moist and wet forests and marginally along stream courses which lead into the adjacent Premontane Moist Forest.
Despite
its restriction to humid forests, it is strictly diurnal and arboreal and is rarely seen (
Savage 2002
). A female specimen from Turrialba, Cartago Province, Costa Rica examined by
Taylor (1956)
contained 4 ovarian eggs in the right and 5 in the left ovary, respectively. Eggs were nearly spherical and measured 12 mm in diameter.
Roberts (1997)
observed a pair of
Polychrus gutturosus
copulating in a tree 2 m above the ground at La Selva Biological Station, Heredia Province, Costa Rica on 9 May and further reports of a gravid female, that was found in a
Heliocarpus
sp. tree next to Puerto Viejo river at La Selva on 24 July. According to
Savage (2002)
, juveniles have a SVL of 53.5-57 mm when hatching. We examined 2 juveniles with a SVL of 87 mm (ZFMK 31444) and only 44 mm (QCAZ 06749), respectively. Two specimens which were not examined any further had a SVL of 39 mm (BM 94.5.29.5) and 57 mm (BM 1901.3.29.84), respectively. Based on the so far reported cases of copulating animals and gravid females,
Savage (2002)
suggested a rainy season productive period (May to December). He stated that eggs are apparently laid in the leaf litter on the ground.
Koehler
(2003B)
kept a couple of
Polychrus gutturosus
from near Rio San Juan, Nicaragua, in a terrarium. On 26 October the female laid 5 eggs, which decayed and could not be incubated successfully. We examined a gravid female (ZFMK 40830) from
Comatre
,
Limon
, Costa Rica, which was collected in October 1983. It contained a total of 6 oval eggs of which 3 were positioned in each of the oviducts. On the average, these eggs had a length of 21 mm and a width of 15 mm.