NOVEDAD ZOOGEOGRAFICA

 

First records of Ameivula abalosi (Cabrera, 2012) (Squamata: Teiidae) for the province of Córdoba, Argentina

Mario R. Cabrera^1,3,4, Suelem Muniz Leão^2,3, Nicolás Pelegrin^2,3

^{1 Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Museo de Zoología, Avenida Vélez Sarsfield 299, X5000JJC, Córdoba, Argentina.}

^{2 Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Centro de Zoología Aplicada, Rondeau 798, X5000AVP, Córdoba, Argentina.}

^{3 Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA), CONICET/UNC. Córdoba, Argentina.}

Recibida: 04/12/17
Revisada: 05/02/18
Aceptada: 09/02/18

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Locality- República Argentina. Province of Córdoba, Totoral Department, Las Peñas (30°35’S; 64°01’W, 502 m a.s.l.). Date: March 4th 2006. Co­llected by M. Kufner, V. Briguera, D. Tamburini, C. Cebollada Pütz, M. Basso and E. Ruiz de los Llanos. Voucher: MZUC (exCBC 674), deposited in the Mu­seo de Zoología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (Fig. 1A); Tulumba Department, about 10 km west from Lucio V. Mansilla (29°45’7’’S; 64°46’29’’W, 182 m a.s.l.). Dates: December 3rd, and December 12th 2015. Collected by N. Pelegrin and S. M. Leão. Vouchers: LECOH 00578 and 00579, two specimens, deposited in the collection of Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación de la Herpetofauna (IDEA-UNC) (Fig. 1B).

Figure 1. (A) Juvenile specimen of Ameivula abalosi (MZUC, exCBC 674) in entire view, and dorsal aspect of its head (up­per inset) showing notorious asymmetry in several scales and marked reduction of parietals; (B) Adult male of A. abalosi (LECOH 00578) from Lucio V. Mansilla, Córdoba, pictured in life. The lower inset illustrates the erected thorn-like scales of the calf (arrow).

 

Comments- Ameivula abalosi distinguishes from the other nine species of the genus (Ameivula cipoensis, A. confusioniba, A. jalapensis, A. mumbuca, A. nativo, A. nigrigula, A. ocellifera, A. pyrrhogularis, and A. xacriaba; Goicoechea et al., 2016) by the combination, among other character states, of five superciliary scales, low number of femoral pores (15-19 in total) and presence in males of erected thorn-like scales along the inferoposterior half of the calf (see inset in Fig. 1B). In Argentina it was reported for the provinces of Chaco, Corrientes, Formosa, La Rioja, Salta, Santiago del Estero, and San Juan (Cabrera, 2012; Gómez Alés et al., 2017), plus an unconfirmed old citation (as Cnemidophorus ocellifer) for the province of Catamarca by Koslowsky (1898). Presence in neighbor countries include re­cords in Paraguay for the Alto Paraguay, Boquerón, Canindeyú, Central, Concepción, Itapúa, Misiones, Ñeembucú, Presidente Hayes, and San Pedro Departments (Cacciali et al., 2016, and references therein), and Bolivia (Chuquisaca, Santa Cruz, and Tarija Departments; Cabrera et al., 2016) (Fig. 2).

Figure 2. Map showing known distribution for Ameivula abalosi. Black dots are records from Cabrera (2012); yellow dots, records from Cacciali et al. (2016); the blue square, the record from Gómez Alés et al. (2017), and the red stars, the new ones included in this work. Hatched surface indicates the area of Bolivia where the species has been seen or photographed (Cabrera et al., 2016). The green area represents the Chaco biome. AR, Argentina; BO, Bolivia, BR, Brazil; CH, Chile; PY, Paraguay; UR, Uruguay.

With the lizard from Las Peñas we now extend the distribution of the species as previously known about 180 km to the south from the nearest localities at Santiago del Estero province, and 195 km to the east from the nearest record for the species at La Rioja province, into areas of the Chaco in the province of Córdoba, at central Argentina, increasing up to 29 the number of lizard species reported for this province by Cabrera (2015).

The voucher MZUC (exCBC 674) is a juvenile (SVL= 40.7 mm) with anomalies in its cephalic scutellation, that fell in a trap arrangement placed where a soybean culture parcel limited with Chaco forest (Ruiz de los Llanos, pers. comm.) during field collects to evaluate influence of agricultural expansion on vertebrate diversity (Cebollada Pütz et al., 2012). The vouchers LECOH 00578 and 00579 are two adult males (LECOH 00579: SVL= 65.0 mm) captured by pitfall trapping in a Chaco forest area next to Salinas Grandes, at northwestern Córdoba. There the predominant vegetation comprises spiny shrubs and cacti, typical of the transition between the Arid Chaco forest and the salt plain of Salinas Grandes.

All localities where A. abalosi has been found belong either to the Semiarid, Arid, or Humid Chaco subregions sensu Naumann (2006). To the present, no individuals of this species have been confirmed for the Chaco Serrano (mountain chaco). Tio Vallejo and Miranda (1984) cited Cnemidophorus ocellifer for Tanti (MACN 10247), Cruz Chica (MACN 29625), and Cruz Grande (MACN 21446), three mountainous villages of Córdoba province. However, revised by one of us (MRC) in 2002, the specimens MACN 10247 (two individuals) and MACN 29625 correspond to Contomastix serrana, undescribed by 1984. The MACN 21446 could not be found in the collection. Therefore, this work means the first vouchered report of the genus Ameivula for Córdoba province and two new records of it for Argentina.

Acronyms- CBC= Colección Biológica del Centro de Ecología y Recursos Naturales Renovables Dr. Ricardo Luti (FCEFyN, UNC); LECOH= Laboratorio de Ecología y Conservación de la Herpetofauna, Instituto de Diversidad y Ecología Animal (IDEA-UNC); MACN= Museo Argentino de Ciencias Na­turales, Buenos Aires; MZUC= Museo de Zoología de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.

 

Acknowledgments

We thank to Maura Kufner for make available the CBC collection, Estefanía Ruiz de los Llanos and Daniela Tamburini for details on collect at Las Peñas, and one anonymous reviewer for comments. Funding to MRC was provided through grant 113/17 by SeCyT-UNC (Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina). NP acknowledges support from CONICET PIP#11220150100566, and The Rufford Foundation for grant RSG18820-2. SML thanks CNPq and CONICET for granting doctoral fellowships.

 

LITERATURE CITED

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