Homonota marthae CACCIALI, MORANDO, AVILA & KÖHLER, 2018
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Homonota marthae
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| Higher Taxa | Phyllodactylidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards: geckos) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Homonota marthae CACCIALI, MORANDO, AVILA & KÖHLER 2018 |
| Distribution | Paraguay (Boquerón) Type locality: Dry Chaco, near the main house of Estancia Amistad (22.406°S, 60.728°W, elevation ca. 190 m asl), Boquerón Department, Paraguay |
| Reproduction | oviparous (manual imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: SMF 101441 (field number GK-3783) (Fig. 4), adult female, collected on February 17th 2012 by Gunther Köhler (Fig. 5). Paratypes: Paraguay: Boquerón Department: Comunidad Ayoreo Jesudi (MNHNP 10744); Comunidad Ayoreo Tunucojai (MNHNP 10534); Estancia Amistad (SMF 101437); Estancia Jabalí (MNHNP 7832); Filadelfia (MNHNP 2795, 2798, 2810, 11790, 11791, 11793, SMF 101436, 101438–40, 101442); 31.5 km S Filadelfa (MNHNP 9726). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A species of Homonota assigned to the horrida group given its relationship (based on molecular evidence) with H. horrida, and by the color pattern composed of a vertebral and fve to seven transversal clear lines appearing as a banded Homonota smilar to H. horrida and H. septentrionalis. Homonota marthae has a robust body, and prominently keeled tubercles disposed in four to eight longitudinal rows on the dorsum.Homonota marthae can be diferentiated from all species in the genus, except H. fasciata, H. horrida, H. darwinii, and H. septentrionalis by the color pattern of transversal bands on the dorsum (reticulated pattern in the remaining species). Homonota marthae is further differentiated from H. andicola, H. whitii, H. darwinii, and H. underwoodi by the keeled scales along the whole dorsum (vs. smooth dorsal scales in H. andicola, H. whitii, and H. underwoodi, and keeled scales restricted to the posterior part of the dorsum in H. darwinii). It difers from H. fasciata by having a serrated edge of the auditory meatus (vs. smooth anterior margin in H. fasciata); presence of one or two enlarged tubercles on the upper edge of the auditory meatus (vs. no enlarged tubercles in H. fasciata); and a smaller size of the postmental scales (vs. postmentals of the size of the frst infralabials in H. fasciata). Homonota marthae difers from H. horrida by the higher position of the ear opening in relation to the level of the mouth (vs. lower positioned in H. horrida); from H. septentrionalis by more developed keeled tubercles on the sides of the neck (Fig. 6) (vs. less developed tubercles in H. septentrionalis). Finally, adults of H. marthae difer from these both species by the lack of a white band (usually crescent-shaped) on the occipital area (vs. white occipital crescent-shaped band present in H. horrida and H. septen-trionalis) (Fig. 7). An artifcial key for identifcation of the species of the genus is presented by Cacciali et al. 2018. |
| Comment | Similar species: H. septentrionalis |
| Etymology | This species is named in honor of our indefatigable colleague Martha Motte, who is not only dedicated to safekeeping the herpetological collection of the “Museo Nacional de Historia Natural del Paraguay”, but also does a great job in providing selfess support to scientists that are striving to improve the knowledge of the Paraguayan herpetofauna. |
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