Proctoporus optimus MAMANI, CRUZ, MALLQUI & CATENAZZI, 2022
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Proctoporus optimus
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| Higher Taxa | Gymnophthalmidae (Cercosaurinae), Sauria, Gymnophthalmoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Proctoporus optimus MAMANI, CRUZ, MALLQUI & CATENAZZI 2022 |
| Distribution | Peru (Cusco) Type locality: Santuario Histórico de Machu Picchu (HSM) (13°11’01’’ S, 72°32’29’’ W, 2790 m a.s.l.), district Aguas Calientes, province Urubamba, department Cusco, in Peru |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: MUBI 11119, adult male (Figures 7 and 8). Collected by Luis Mamani on 13 October 2012. Paratypes: Four adult males (MHNC 1716, 1721, 1724, and 1731), five adult females (MHNC 1717–19, 1722, and 1729), and a subadult female (MHNC 1726) collected by Armando Mendoza Centeno and John L. Achicahuala Zegarra in April 2002, from Wiñaywayna, Santuario Histórico de Machu Picchu; two adult male (MUBI 962, 975) and two adult females (MUBI 855, 964) collected by Juan Carlos Chaparro in 1998, from Santuario Histórico de Machu Picchu, Province Urubamba. An adult male (MUBI 13133), three adult females (MUBI 12740–1 and 13133), two subadult males (MUBI 12742 and 13136), and five subadult females (MUBI 12962–3, 12744, and 13134–5) collected by Raúl Quispe Phocco in July 2013, from Sahuayaco, district Santa Teresa, province La Convención. Two adult males (MUBI 2915 and 2984) collected by Luis Mamani in October 2013, from Mesa Pelada (12◦56′21′′ S, 72◦35′55′′ W, 2780 m a.s.l.), and a male (MUBI 2809) collected by James W. Ttito in January 2017, from Chuyamayo (12°58′17′′ S, 72°36′02′′ W, 2420 m a.s.l.), district Maranura, province La Convención. UTA R-51512, R-51515 from Chocalloc and R-51515–16 from Machu Picchu. All types were collected in the department of Cusco, Peru. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: (1) Frontonasal longer than frontal; (2) nasoloreal suture incomplete or absent; (3) three supraoculars; (4) four superciliaries; (5) three postoculars; (6) palpebral disc, undivided and transparent; (7) four supralabials, anterior to the posteroventral angle of the subocular; (8) three anterior infralabials, occasionally four; (9) four to five genials in contact; (10) two rows of pregulars; (11) dorsal body scales, quadrangular, keeled, and sub imbricate; (12) 34–38 scales around the midbody; (13) 33–34 transverse dorsal rows; (14) 18–22 transverse ventral rows; (15) 24–27 longitudinal dorsal rows; (16) 10 longitudinal ventral rows; (17) a continuous series of small lateral scales separating the dorsals from the ventrals; (18) three to four posterior cloacal plate scales; (19) two anterior preanal plate scales; (20) six to nine femoral pores per hind limb in males and four to eight in females; (21) preanal pores absent; (22) 8–11 subdigital lamellae on finger IV; 14–17 sudigital lamellae on toe IV; (23) limbs not overlapping when against the body; (24) pentadactyl, digits clawed; (25) in adult males, the dorsum is brown with small and irregular black spots irregularly distributed; the flank is similar to the dorsum with a continuous line of conspicuous ocelli from the neck to tail; the ventral surface varies from intense orange to a combination of orange and cream; the throat is intense orange with abundant dark spots; in adult females, the dorsum is similar to males; the flanks are brown with small and irregular black spots irregularly distributed with small no conspicuous ocelli; and the ventral surface is cream with few or many more brown spots (Figure 8). Measurements are shown in Table 3. Proctoporus optimus sp. nov. can be distinguished from all species of Proctoporus (P. bolivianus, P. carabaya, P. chasqui, P. iridescens, P. kiziriani, P. lacertus, P. laudahnae, P. machupicchu, P. oreades, P. pachyurus, P. rhami, P. spinalis, P. sucullucu, P. unsaacae, and P. xestus), except for P. guentheri and P. katerynae sp. nov., as having two rows of pregular scales (three in all other species of Proctoporus); from P. guentheri through the absence of a pair of enlarged pregulars in contact on the midline behind the second pair of genials (present in P. guentheri); and from P. katerynae sp. nov., as having 18–20 longitudinal dorsal scale rows, eight longitudinal ventral scale rows, and females having four to eight femoral pores (24–27 longitudinal dorsal scale rows, 10 longitudinal ventral scale rows, and females not having femoral pores in P. katerynae sp. nov.). (MAMANI et al. 2022) |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | The specific epithet, optimus, is patronymic for Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots in the science fiction movie Transformers, in recognition of the seventh film that was filmed in Machu Picchu: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. |
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