Enyalioides cyanocephalus VENEGAS, GARCÍA-AYACHI, CHÁVEZ-ARRIBASPLATA, MARCHELIE, BULLARD, QUISPE, VALENCIA, ODAR & TORRES-CARVAJAL, 2024
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Enyalioides cyanocephalus
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| Higher Taxa | Hoplocercidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Blue-headed wood lizard Spanish: lagartija de palo de cabeza azul |
| Synonym | Enyalioides cyanocephalus VENEGAS, GARCÍA-AYACHI, CHÁVEZ-ARRIBASPLATA, MARCHELIE, BULLARD, QUISPE, VALENCIA, ODAR & TORRES-CARVAJAL 2024: 3 |
| Distribution | Peru (Amazonas) Type locality: Uriarte (5.49099° S, 78.36703° W, 2,045 m, WGS 84), District Aramango, Bagua Province, Department Amazonas, Peru |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: CORBIDI 20781, an adult male, collected on 13 August 2019 by P.J. Venegas. Paratypes: Department Amazonas: Bagua Province: District Aramango: CORBIDI 20724 and 20726, juvenile females, and CORBIDI 20737, adult female, from Nueva Esperanza (5.48520° S, 78.34658° W, 1,559 m, WGS 84), collected between 9-11 August 2019 by P.J. Venegas and J.C. Chávez-Arribasplata; CORBIDI 22495 and 22496, juvenile females, CORBIDI 22497, juvenile male, CORBIDI 22498, adult female, CORBIDI 22499-501, three adult males, from Cataratas de Nueva Esperanza (5.49059° S, 78.33768° W, 1,705 m, WGS 84), collected on December 2019 by A. Marchelie; Bagua Province: District Imaza: CORBIDI 25410, 25430, 25433, 25493, adult females, and CORBIDI 25432, 25469, 25471, 25492, adult males, from Alto Wawas (5.38368° S, 78.28972° W, 1,234 m, WGS 84), collected between 8-10 June 2023 by L.A. García-Ayachi, J. Odar, S. Bullard, J. Valencia and E. Quispe; Bongara Province: District Yambrasbamba: CORBIDI 24920-22, 24938-40, four males and two females, from Perla del Imaza (5.61956° S, 77.97228° W, 1,566 m, WGS 84), collected between 17-19 March 2023 by P.J. Venegas L.A. García-Ayachi, S. Bullard, J. Valencia and E. Quispe. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Enyalioides cyanocephalus can be distinguished from other species of Enyalioides, except its sister species E. anisolepis Torres-Carvajal, Venegas & de Queiroz, 2015 (Torres-Carvajal et al. 2023), by the combination of the following characters: 1) scales immediately posterior to superciliaries, on the lateral edge of skull, conical, slightly higher than adjacent scales; 2) gular scales heterogeneous in size; 3) scales on neck conical dorsally and conspicuously larger than the granular scales on the sides; 4) dorsal scales between dorsolateral crests covered by strongly carinate projected scales surrounded by tiny granular scales; 5) scales on flanks tiny, tuberculate or granular, with scattered enlarged conical or tuberculate scales; 6) ventral scales keeled or feebly keeled; 7) tail laterally compressed; 8) caudal scales heterogeneous, increasing in size posteriorly on each segment; 9) venter immaculate in adult males; and 10) marked sexual dichromatism with background dorsal colouration green in males (Fig. 1) and brown or greenish brown in females (Fig. 2). Enyalioides cyanocephalus resembles E. anisolepis in having a green dorsal background in males and brown in females, dorsum and gular region with scales that are heterogeneous in size, and an orange patch on the gular region in males. Moreover, both species occur in close proximity as E. anisolepis is known from the Amazon slope of the Andes in extreme southern Ecuador and northern Peru at 724- 1,742 m (Torres-Carvajal et al. 2015). Nevertheless, E. cyanocephalus can be distinguished from E. anisolepis (state of character in parentheses) by having scales on dorsal aspect of neck mostly large and conical (the dorsal aspect of neck with few scattered large conical scales) (see Fig. 3A, B), dorsum of body between dorsolateral crests mostly covered by large, keeled, mucronate scales (dorsum of body between dorsolateral crests with scattered large, keeled, non- mucronate scales) (see Fig. 3C, D), and belly and ventral surface of thighs immaculate (with scattered brown spots in adult males). Other species of Enyalioides that possess scattered and projected large scales on dorsum are E. cofanorum Duellman, 1973, and E. heterolepis Bocourt, 1874. Enyalioides cofanorum occurs east of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru at elevations between 100 and 1,230 m (Torres-Carvajal et al. 2011). Enyalioides cyanocephalus differs from E. cofanorum in having gular scales and dorsal scales of hind limbs heterogeneous in size (homogeneous), and by lacking a dark patch on gular region (a black patch in both sexes). Enyalioides heterolepis occurs in Panama and the Pacific slope of the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia (Torres-Carvajal et al. 2011). Enyalioides cyanocephalus can be distinguished from E. heterolepis by having a taller vertebral crest with the vertebral scales on neck at least three times higher than those between the hindlimbs (a lower vertebral crest with vertebral scales on neck maximum twice as high as those between hindlimbs), venter immaculate (with a medial black patch), and by lacking enlarged projected scales on hind limbs (present). (Venegas et al. 2024) |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Named after the Greek words ‘kyanos’, an adjective meaning blue, and ‘cephalus’, a noun meaning head. This specific name is used as a noun in apposition and refers to the bluish head of the holotype specimen. |
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