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Oreosaurus luctuosus (PETERS, 1863)

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Higher TaxaGymnophthalmidae (Cercosaurinae), Sauria, Gymnophthalmoidea, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Lightbulb Lizard 
SynonymEcpleopus (Oreosaurus) luctuosus PETERS 1863: 203
Proctoporus luctuosus — TEST et al. 1966
Proctoporus luctuosus — BAUER et al. 1995: 57
Proctoporus luctuosus — DOAN & SCHARGEL 2003
Riama luctuosa — DOAN & CASTOE 2005
Oreosaurus luctuosus — SÁNCHEZ-PACHECO et al. 2017
Riama luctuosa — LINDKEN et al. 2024 
DistributionVenezuela (Aragua), elevation 1100 m

Type locality: “Venezuela”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ZMB 1162 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus Oreosaurus): All unambiguously optimized synapomorphies for this clade are from DNA sequences. Phenotypic synapomorphies are not known. Other characteristics include: (1) head scales smooth; (2) frontoparietal and parietal scales paired; (3) interparietal, frontal and frontonasal scales single; (4) prefrontal scales usually absent (present in O. mcdiarmidi); (5) lower eyelid divided into several scales; (6) loreal scale usually present (absent in O. “Venezuela” and O. shrevei); (7) scale organs on labials present; (8) anteriormost supraocular and anteriormost superciliary scales unfused; (9) dorsal surface of the tongue covered in scale-like papillae; (10) nuchal scales keeled or smooth; (11) dorsal body scales hexagonal (or sub-hexagonal) or rectangular; smooth or keeled (prominent keel); (12) ventral body scales smooth; (13) limbs pentadactyl; digits clawed; (14) femoral pores in both sexes present; (15) hemipenial lobes large, distinct from hemipenial body (narrow, indistinct from hemipenial body in O. “Sierra Nevada”). Oreosaurus differs from Riama and Andinosaura by lacking a narrow band of differentiated granular lateral scales (oval, nongranular scales instead). [SÁNCHEZ-PACHECO et al. 2017].
 
CommentType species: Ecpleopus (Oreosaurus) luctuosus PETERS 1863 is the type species of the genus Oreosaurus PETERS 1863, as subsequently designated by BURT & BURT 1931. Note that Barabanov & Ananjeva 2007 also created a subgenus Oreosaura within Phrynocephalus (type species: P. vlangalii -- see there).

History: Peters (1862) erected Oreosaurus as a subgenus of Ecpleopus for his new species E. (O.) striatus and E. (O.) luctuosus (in sequence). Boulenger (1885) elevated Oreosaurus to genus rank. Andersson (1914) synonymized it with Proctoporus, and Doan and Castoe (2005) implicitly placed it in the synonymy of Riama. Peters (1862) did not designate a type species. Although O. striatus was first described, Burt and Burt (1931), without comment (but still a valid action), designated O. luctuosus as the type species (Uzzell, 1958: 2; contra Peters and Donoso-Barros, 1970 and Kizirian, 1996: 86; SÁNCHEZ-PACHECO et al. 2017).

Uzzell (1958, 1970) suggested preliminary groupings within Proctoporus. The P. luctuosus group, unified by a divided palpebral eye disc, no median occipital, four supraoculars, and legs overlapping when adpressed, included P. achlyens Uzzell, P. laevis, P. luctuosus, P. oculatus, and P. shrevei Parker (Uzzell,1958).

Abundance: Rare. This is one of the species called “lost” and “rediscovered” by Lindken et al. 2024. 
EtymologyNamed probably after the Latin adjective “luctuosus” = sorrowful or mournful, for unknown reasons.

The name Oreosaurus is derived from the Greek words oros, meaning mountain and sauros (lizard), and refers to the mountainous distribution of the new subgenus's constituent species. Barabanov & Ananjeva 2007 created the subgenus Oreosaura as a feminine genus while the Peters’ genus is used a masculine. 
References
  • Bauer, A.M.; Günther,R. & Klipfel,M. 1995. The herpetological contributions of Wilhelm C.H. Peters (1815-1883). SSAR Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology, 714 pp.
  • Doan, T. M. & Castoe, T.A. 2005. Phylogenetic taxonomy of the Cercosaurini (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae), with new genera for species of Neusticurus and Proctoporus. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 143: 405–416. - get paper here
  • Doan, T.M. 2003. A south-to-north biogeographic hypothesis for Andean speciation: evidence from the lizard genus Proctoporus (Reptilia, Gymnophthalmidae). Journal of Biogeography 30: 361–374 - get paper here
  • Doan, T.M. & Schargel, W.E. 2003. Bridging the gap in Proctoporus distribution: a new species (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Andes of Venezuela. Herpetologica 59 (1): 68-75 - get paper here
  • Lindken T.; Anderson, C. V., Ariano-Sánchez, D., Barki, G., Biggs, C., Bowles, P., Chaitanya, R., Cronin, D. T., Jähnig, S. C., Jeschke, J. M., Kennerley, R. J., Lacher, T. E. Jr., Luedtke, J. A., Liu, C., Long, B., Mallon, D., Martin, G. M., Meiri, 2024. What factors influence the rediscovery of lost tetrapod species? Global Change Biology, 30: 1-18 - get paper here
  • Peters, W. 1862. Über Cercosaura und die mit dieser Gattung verwandten Eidechsen aus Südamerika. Abh. Berlin Akad. 1862: 165-225
  • RIVAS, G. A., NUNES, P. M. S., BARAN, A., JOWERS, M. J., SMITH, E. N., HERNÁNDEZ-MORALES, C., & SCHARGEL, W. E. 2021. A new species of Oreosaurus (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Turimiquire Massif, northeastern Venezuela. Zootaxa 5023 (4): 571-584 - get paper here
  • RIVAS, GILSON A.; CÉSAR R. MOLINA, GABRIEL N. UGUETO, TITO R. BARROS, CÉSAR L. BAR- RIO-AMORÓS & PHILIPPE J. R. KOK 2012. Reptiles of Venezuela: an updated and commented checklist. Zootaxa 3211: 1–64 - get paper here
  • Sánchez-Pacheco, S. J., Torres-Carvajal, O., Aguirre-Peñafiel, V., Sales-Nunes, P. M., Verrastro, L., Rivas, G. A., Rodrigues, M. T., Grant, T. and Murphy, R. W. 2017. Phylogeny of Riama (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae), impact of phenotypic evidence on molecular datasets, and the origin of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta endemic fauna. Cladistics, doi:10.1111/cla.12203 [print: 2018] - get paper here
  • Sánchez-Pacheco, Santiago J.; David A. Kizirian, and Pedro M. Sales-Nunes 2011. A New Species of Riama from Ecuador Previously Referred to as Riama hyposticta (Boulenger, 1902) (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae). American Museum Novitates (3719): 1-15 - get paper here
  • Test, Frederic H.;Sexton, Owen J.;Heatwole, Harold 1966. Reptiles of Rancho Grande and vicinity, Estado Aragua, Venezuela. Miscellaneous publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (128): 1-63 - get paper here
  • Uzzell, T. M. 1970. Teiid lizards of the genus Proctoporus from Bolivia and Peru. Postilla 142: 1-39. - get paper here
  • Uzzell, T.M. 1958. Teiid lizards related to Proctoporus luctuosus, with the description of a new species from Venezuela. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University of Michigan 597: 1-15 - get paper here
 
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