Phymaturus curivilcun SCOLARO, CORBALÁN, TAPPARI & STREITENBERGER, 2016
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Phymaturus curivilcun
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| Higher Taxa | Liolaemidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | S: Lagarto negro E: Black lizard |
| Synonym | Phymaturus curivilcun SCOLARO, CORBALÁN, TAPPARI & STREITENBERGER 2016 |
| Distribution | Argentina (Chubut) Type locality: open rocky outcrops in Paraje El Mirador (42° 27’ S; 70° 03’ W; 1100 m elevation, datum = WGS84), Provincial road No 4, approximately 80 km NW of Gastre, Cushamen Department, Chubut Province, Argentina. |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous. |
| Types | Holotype: MLP R. 6339, adult male. Collected by J.A. Scolaro and O.F. Tappari, 16 December 2014. Paratypes: MLP.R. 6340, adult male; MLP.R. 6341, adult female; MLP.R. 6342, adult female; MLP.R. 6343 adult male; JAS-DC 2258 adult male; JAS-DC 2260 adult male; JAS-DC 1210 adult male; JAS-DC 2293 adult female and JAS-DC 2237 adult female. All specimens have the same data of collection as the holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis―Phymaturus curivilcun shows neither sexual dichromatism nor dimorphism (except for head width, which is larger in males) (Table 1). Adult males show a uniform dorsal body pattern, entirely black, including head, dorsal body, limbs and tail; some specimens show a homogeneous dorsal pattern with lead- black background, sometimes irregularly and sparsely scattered with a few small dark grey spots. Females show a similar dorsal pattern. Ventrally, the black pattern includes throat, neck, abdomen, thighs and tail. But, during reproductive months, some specimens show the abdomen, ventral surface of tail and thighs with a pale copper colour over the dark background. Juveniles sometimes show ventrally a uniformly dark grey colour, occasionally soft light grey. On the caudal whorls there appear light grey rings alternating with pale copper coloured rings. Phymaturus curivilcun differs from the rest of species of the patagonicus clade by its darker coloration. Furthermore, it can also be distinguished from P. etheridgei and P. camilae by a major expression of head width, hindlimb length and a significantly lower number of ventral scales and number of scales around midbody (Table 2). Besides, P. curivilcun has the subocular fragmented into 2-3 parts, a characteristic normally not shared by the other species. It also presents thin and imbricate superciliary scales and smooth dorsal scales on the tail. It shows two rows of lorilabial scales between subocular and supralabials. Absence of sexual dichromatism differentiated Phymaturus curivilcun from P. camilae, P. excelsus, P. somuncurensis, P. manuelae, P. spectabilis, P. yachanana, P. ceii and P. tenebrosus. However, the dorsal pattern uniformly dark colour appears similar to can be observed in the nearest geographically species P. sinervoi and P. spurcus. Besides, scarce small and irregular different speckled spots or stripes have never observed in P. curivilcun. Ventral scale count in Phymaturus curivilcun is lower than in P. ceii, P. etheridgei, P. camilae, P. tenebrosus, P. somuncurensis and P. calcogaster and shows some overlap with P. yachanana, P. agilis, P. excelsus, P. manuelae, P. patagonicus, P. desuetus, P. sinervoi, P. spurcus and P. spectabilis but with different average. Besides, with respect the number of scales around midbody P. curivilcun shows overlapping with P. yachanana, P. spectabilis, P. excelsus, P. agilis, P. patagonicus and P. calcogaster but minor number than in P. somuncurensis, P. spurcus, P. tenebrosus, P. ceii, P. etheridgei, P. camilae, P. manuelae, P. desuetus and P. sinervoi. |
| Comment | Sympatry: Liolaemus bibroni Bell, 1843, L. ceii Donoso Barros, 1971, L. elongatus Koslowsky, 1896, L. inacayali Abdala, 2003, L. uptoni Scolaro and Cei, 2006, Diplolaemus darwinii Bell, 1843, Diplolaemus sexcinctus Cei, Scolaro and Videla, 2003, and, Pristidactylus nigroiugulus Cei, Scolaro and Videla 2001 and Homonota darwinii Boulenger, 1885. Habitat: rocky outcrops Diet: probably mostly herbivorous (e.g. (Lycium spp. and Adesmia boronioides) Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017). |
| Etymology | The specific name, “curivilcun” refers to the dorsal dark colour of the species, (as curi = black colour and vilcún = lizard) that comes from the mapudungún language of Mapuche natives that inhabited Argentina and Chile in the past. |
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