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A new species of Xenosaurus (Squamata: Xenosauridae) from the Sierra Madre del Sur of Oaxaca, Mexico

2001; Herpetologists' League; Volume: 57; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1938-5099

Adrián Nieto‐Montes de, JA Campbell, Oscar Flores‐Villela,

Animal Behavior and Reproduction

'We describe a new species of Xeno.seatnr.s fromii the Sierra Madre del Stir in Oa.xaca and compare it to all the other species in the genus. The new species differs fi-om the others bv having 2-6 white spots on the infralabial-labiomnental regioni on either side of the head, as well as the following combination of character states: secon(d chinshielcls uisuallv in me(lial con-tact with each other, few lamellae under the fourth toe (19-22, 1 = 9.4), and a short tail (tail length/snouitvent length ratio 0.73-0.79). The new species was collected in the cre\ices of small boulders in oak forest at about 2000 m elevation and is Imlost simnilar to rectocollatris from souitheastern Puiebla. Key tvordls: Xenosauridae; Xenooscaun s; Nexv species; Mexico; Oaxaca; Svstemiiatics IN THEIR REVIEW of the lizard genus Xenosaurus, King and Thompson (1968) recognized only three species, one of them with five subspecies. The two monotypic species (X. newmanorum and platyceps) are confined to northeastern Mexico (southeastern San Luis Potosi and southwestern Tamaulipas, respectively), whereas King and Thompson (1968) envisioned the remaining, polytypic species (X. grandis) as occurring from central Veracruz, Mexico, south and east to Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Of the five subspecies of Xenosaurus grandis recognized by King and Thompson (1968), four are restricted to the states of Veracruz or Oaxaca in south-central Mexico. Xenosaurus g. grandis occurs in west-central Veracruz, g. sanmartinensis is endemic to the Sierra de los Tuxtlas range in southern Veracruz, g. agrenon occurs at several localities in central and southern Oaxaca, and g. arboreus is known only from the mountains of the Sierra Madre in extreme southeastern Oaxaca, east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec lowlands. The remaining subspecies, g. rackhami, occurs from west-central Chiapas in Mexico east to Alta Verapaz in Guatemala. In addition to these taxa, King and Thompson (1968) regarded specimens from two localities in north-central Oaxaca (San Lucas Camotlan, in the Sierra Mixe, and Campamento Vista Hermosa, in the Sierra de Juarez) as intergrades of g. grandis and g. rackhami. Alarch 2001] IERPETOLOGICA 33 Smith and Iverson (1993) described Xenosaurus rectocollaris from near Chapulco in southeastern Puebla, Mexico, raising the number of named taxa in the genus to eight. In addition, these authors mentioned the existence of an undescribed species from Cerro Acaltepec, San Juan Acaltepec, District of Yautepec, Oaxaca, but they did not formally describe it. Furthermore, these authors suggested that the population at Campamento Vista Hermosa, Oaxaca, might represent an additional undescribed species. More recently, Perez-Ramos et al. (2000) described penai from isolated highlands of the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero. The population of penai had been known for a number of years; however, it had been first referred to g. agrenon and then to the X. grandis complex by Perez-Ramos and Saldafia de la Riva (1987, 1989). Examination of 16 specimens of Xenosaurus from near San Juan Acaltepec, District of Yautepec, Oaxaca, collected in 1995 and 1999 by herpetologists at the Museo de Zoologia Alfonso L. Herrera of the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (MZFC), confirmed the distinctness of this population. Herein, we formally describe it and compare it with all known taxa in the genus. We follow the taxonomic arrangement of King and Thompson (1968).