Homonota xiru MALLERET, PISETTA, FAGUNDES & VERRASTRO, 2023
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Homonota xiru?
Homonota xiru
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| Higher Taxa | Phyllodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Homonota xiru MALLERET, PISETTA, FAGUNDES & VERRASTRO 2023 Homonota uruguayensis (Clade I) — FELAPPI et al. 2015 Cerro do Tigre lineage’ (CTI) — MALLERET et al. 2023 |
| Distribution | Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul) Type locality: Cerro Chato at Tigre (-29.66241° S, -55.382139° W), Alegrete, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: UFRGS 5637, adult male (Figures S4-5), collected by M. Borges- Martins on 19 April 2010. Paratypes: All paratypes (23 specimens) from the same locality as the holotype, but collected at different points and on different dates: Rocky outcrop at Tigre (-29.666509° S, -55.3903° W), collected by M. Borges-Martins on 4 June 2009: UFRGS 5340 an adult male, UFRGS 5341 an adult female, UFRGS 5342 an adult female, UFRGS 5343 an adult male, UFRGS 5344 a juvenile, UFRGS 5346 a juvenile, UFRGS 5347 an adult female, UFRGS 5348 an adult male. Rocky hill at Tigre (-29.666509° S, -55.3903° W), collected by M. Borges-Martins and J. Felappi on 19 April 2010: UFRGS 5629 an adult female, UFRGS 5630 an adult female, UFRGS 5631 an adult female, UFRGS 5632 an adult male. Cerro Chato at Tigre (-29.66241° S, -55.382139° W), collected by M. Borges-Martins and J. Felappi on 19 April 2010: UFRGS 5633 an adult male, UFRGS 5634 an adult female, UFRGS 5635 an adult female, UFRGS 5636 an adult male, UFRGS 5638 an adult male, UFRGS 5639 an adult male, UFRGS 5640 an adult male. Cerro Chato at Tigre (-29.66241° S, -55.382139° W), collected by M.M. Malleret, L. Verrastro and N.J.R. Fagundes on 23 August 2020: UFRGS 7802 an adult female, UFRGS 7803 an adult female. Fazenda Reconquista (-29.654133° S, -55.339149° W), collected by M.M. Malleret, L. Verrastro and N.J.R. Fagundes on 23 August 2020: UFRGS 7804 an adult female, UFRGS 7805 an adult female. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Homonota xiru sp. n. is a small species of Homonota (mean SVL = 41.52 mm; Table 2), assigned to the borellii group given its relationship (based on molecular evidence, Figures 2 and S1), that can be distinguished from other species of the genus by the following set of characters: long snout; higher number of dorsal keeled scales; higher average number of lamellae of the fourth toe; granular scales interspersed with large-keeled scales on the post-orbital region of the head; auditory meatus with smooth edges; granular scales interspersed with large tubercles on the lateral surface of the neck; strongly keeled dorsal; imbricate scales and strongly keeled on the anterior and dorsal region of the forelimbs; and smooth scales on the posterior region of the tibia. (Malleret et al. 2023: supplement) |
| Comment | Syntopy: Amphisbaena trachura, Aspronema dorsivittatum, Epictia munoai, Phalotris, lemniscatus, Trachemys dorbigni, and Tropidurus catalanensis. Synonymy: the description of this species is very confusing, given that the authors mostly speak of “the CTI lineage”, including figure legends, phylogenies, etc., instead of “H. xiru”. |
| Etymology | Named after xiru, a word of Native American origin, from the Guarani language, which means old individual or old father. The expression is used to describe someone who is very old and experienced. It is an expression of the Pampean culture, and widely used by the local population. The epithet also references the fact that in Felappi et al. (2015), the mtDNA lineage representing Homonota xiru sp. n. was considered as an unusually divergent lineage within Homonota uruguayensis, which could represent a different species, as we corroborated in this study. |
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