Placosoma limaverdorum BORGES-NOJOSA, CARAMASCHI & RODRIGUES, 2016
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Placosoma limaverdorum
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| Higher Taxa | Gymnophthalmidae (Cercosaurinae), Sauria, Gymnophthalmoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Placosoma limaverdorum BORGES-NOJOSA, CARAMASCHI & RODRIGUES 2016 |
| Distribution | Brazil (Ceará) Type locality: Maciço de Baturité (Sítio Olho d’Água dos Tangarás), Pacoti Municipality, state of Ceará, Brazil (04°14’9,41”S / 38°55'1,15"W; Datum WGS 84) |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: UFC (also as CHUFC) L1998, an adult male, collected by J.A. Carneiro in December, 1996 (Figures 1–2). Paratypes. UFC (also as CHUFC) L1958, juvenile male, November 15, 1995, and MZUSP 88071 (CHUFC L2055), adult male, February 19, 1998, collected by D.M. Borges-Nojosa; CHUFC L2527, adult male, CHUFC L2525 and CHUFC L2526, adult females, August 27, 1998, collected by D.C. Lima; CHUFC L3116, adult female, December 12, 2003, collected by Y. Quinet; CHUFC L4170 (Figure 3), adult male, and CHUFC L4171 (Figure 3), adult female, June 26, 2010, collected by D.C. Lima and T.A. Sousa; CHUFC L4194, adult male, August 22, 2010, collected by D.C. Lima; MNRJ 26049 (CHUFC L5649), adult male, September 27, 2014, MPEG 32210 (CHUFC L5783), juvenile male, October 18, 2014, collected by D.M. Borges-Nojosa, D.P. Castro et al.: all from Serra de Maranguape, Maranguape Municipality, State of Ceará, Brazil (03°54'–04°03' S / 38°32'–38°40' W; Datum WGS 84). CHUFC L3720, juvenile male, March–July 2005, collected by L.B.M. Brito: Maciço de Baturité, Guaramiranga Municipality (Sítio Guaramiranga), State of Ceará, Brazil (04°05–04°40’ S / 38°30'–39°10' W; Datum WGS 84). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Body long, depressed; head long with a pronounced acute snout; tail longer than body; tongue elongate, arrow headed. Limbs slender, pentadactyl, all clawed. Ear opening and eyelid distinct, with an undivided transparent palpebral disk. Frontonasal single; prefrontals, frontoparietals, parietals, interparietal and two series of occipitals present; four supraoculars. Nostril in the center of a divided nasal. Tympanic recess deep. Collar absent, gular fold present; four enlarged pairs of chinshields, posteriormost reduced. Dorsal scales smooth, subimbricate, juxtaposed, disposed in regular transverse rows. Lateral scales distinct in shape and much smaller than dorsals and ventrals, disposed in irregular transverse rows. Ventrals quadrangular, smooth, imbricate, larger than dorsals, disposed in regular transverse and longitudinal rows. Males with femoral pores, preanal pores absent; females without femoral pores. The systematics of gymnophthalmid lizards is going through a period of effervescence since the advent of the first comprehensive molecular study showed that morphologic character convergence was widespread, introducing uncertainty in their taxonomy (Pellegrino et al. 2001). Since then, several genera and suprageneric groups have been defined molecularly but we have no consistent morphological synapomorphies supporting either the present admitted genera and tribes (Rodrigues et al. 2009, Torres-Carvajal et al. 2016, Goicoechea et al. 2016). The genus Placosoma has been consistently recovered in molecular studies, nested among the Cercosaurini with high support (Pellegrino et al. 2001, Kok 2015, Torres-Carvajal et al. 2016, Goicoechea et al. 2016). Nevertheless, no morphological synapomorphies have been proposed either to the genus or to the tribe Cercosaurini. Considering the absence of molecular data for the species herein described and while waiting for a sound morphological study of the entire tribe to better characterize its genera we use the following character combination to support the inclusion of the new species in the Cercosaurini and in the genus Placosoma: presence of an eyelid and ear opening, a long body and tail, pentadactyl limbs, presence of an elongate and acute snout, two series of occipital scales, homogeneous and slightly imbricate quadrangular dorsal and ventral scales, lateral scales distinct in size and shape from dorsal and ventral ones but never granular. The genus Placosoma differs from the stream adapted genera Echinosaura, Neusticurus, Potamites, and Gelanosaurus by having a homogeneous dorsal scalation (heterogeneous in size and shape and ornamentation in those genera). From Cercosaura and Pantodactylus it differs by presenting eight longitudinal series of quadrangular scales at midbody and no granular scales in the flanks (six or less enlarged rows of ventrals and granular scales on flanks). From Anadia, Euspondylus, Macropholidus, and Riama it can be distinguished by having a series of lateral scales smaller than dorsal and ventral scales but never granular (generally identical to dorsals, without distinction). From Proctoporus, Petracola and Pholidobolus it differs by the absence of a lateral fold with granular scales on sides of body (present). Placosoma limaverdorum differs from all congeners by having an undivided transparent palpebral disc (divided with scales in all other species), an entirely divided nasal with a nostril in the center, a deeply tympanic recess, absence of preanal pores, and by the presence of a light vertebral stripe extending from frontonasal to tip of tail , with about one scale wide, bordered laterally by a dark pigmentation, irregularly interrupted by interspaced ocelli (two paravertebral light stripes in P. cordylinum, P. champsonotus, and P. glabellum, and two paravertebral stripes and a lateral one in P. cipoense). It further differs from P. glabellum by having squared ventral scales (posterior part of scales rounded), and from P. champsonotus by having smooth dorsal scales (keeled) and a maximum of six enlarged dorsal scales between fore limbs (eight or more). Placosoma limaverdorum share with P. glabellum, P. cordylinum and P. cipoense a low number of enlarged dorsal scales between forelimbs (maximum of six) but differ from those species in number of femoral pores 21–26 (19–22 in P. glabellum, 27–32 in P. cordylinum and 26 in P. cipoense). Placosoma cipoense is the only species in the genus to have the superior part of nasal semidivided; the suture in also present in the lower part of nasal in P. limaverdorum. Additionally, in P. limaverdorum, the frontal scale has anterior and posteriorly the same approximate width, is smaller than parietal and internasal and is either totally separated from the first supraocular or in punctual contact with it. In all other species the frontal scale is longer than parietal and internasal and is in broad contact with the first supraocular. Another difference is that the suture between frontoparietals is relatively longer in P. limaverdorum when compared with those of its congeners. |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The species honors Prof. Dr. José Santiago Lima-Verde, an important collaborator of herpetological studies in the State of Ceará, who started the Herpetological Collection of the Universidade Federal do Ceará (CHUFC) and the Núcleo Regional de Ofiologia da UFC (NUROF-UFC). This description is also a tribute to the agronomist Wilson Luiz Lima-Verde, owner of the cottage (Sítio Olho d’Água dos Tangarás) where the holotype was obtained. |
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