Phymaturus cacivioi LOBO & NENDA, 2015
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Phymaturus cacivioi
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| Higher Taxa | Liolaemidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Phymaturus cacivioi LOBO & NENDA 2015 Phymaturus cacivioi — LOBO et al. 2021 |
| Distribution | Argentina (Río Negro) Type locality: 12.6 km SW of Mencué on Provincial Route 67; 40°30'53.90" S, 69°42'25.00" W 1140 m elevation, El Cuy Department, Río Negro Province. Argentina |
| Reproduction | viviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: MCN-UNSa 3895. Male. Paratypes.– 8 females, 10 males and 3 juveniles. MCN-UNSa 3888, MCN-UNSa 3890, MCN-UNSa 3894, MACN 44731 (ex MCN-UNSa 3896), MACN 44732 (ex MCN-UNSa 3897), MACN 44733 (ex MCN-UNSa 3898), MACN 44735 (ex MCN-UNSa 3935), MACN 44737 (ex MCN-UNSa 3938) females, MCN-UNSa 3936, MCN-UNSa 3889, MCN-UNSa 3891, MCN-UNSa 3892, MCN-UNSa 3899, MCN- UNSa 3901, MCN-UNSa 3902, MACN 44730 (ex MCN-UNSa 3893), MACN 44736 (ex MCN-UNSa 3937), MACN 44734 (ex MCN-UNSa 3900) males. MCN 3903-05 juveniles. Same data as holotype. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Phymaturus cacivioi sp. nov. belongs to the Phymaturus patagonicus group because it exhibits apomorphies found for this group of species (Lobo et al., 2012a): bellies of females and males light orange or pink (not yellow, which is exclusive of males of the palluma group), a set of enlarged scales projected over the auditory meatus (not perpendicular), and external margins of postmental scales dark pigmented. Within the P. patagonicus group, P. cacivioi sp. nov. differs from P. payuniae, P. nevadoi, P. sitesi, P. delheyi, P. patagonicus, P. somuncurensis, P. sinervoi, P. calcogaster, P. camilae, P. yachanana and P. etheridgei in that it lacks a dorsal pattern formed by dispersed white spots. Phymaturus cacivioi sp. nov. does not exhibit a dorsal pattern of ocelli forming two paravertebral rows, unlike P. manuelae, P. spectabilis, P. excelsus, P. spurcus (juveniles), P. payuniae (females), P. nevadoi (females), P. castillensis, P. felixi (polymorphic) and P. camilae (females). Phymaturus cacivioi sp. nov. has a lateral dark band, which is absent in almost all species of Phymaturus with the exception of P. zapalensis, P. ceii, P. tenebrosus, P. sinervoi (females) and P. somuncurensis. Four species are phenetically similar to P. cacivioi sp. nov.: P. tenebrosus, P. manuelae, P. ceii and the recently described P. sinervoi, which can be easily distinguished by the following character combination: dorsal ocelli light brown, more marked than the rest of the background color, which is darker, conspicuous in all females of P. ceii and P. manuelae and in melanic males of P. ceii (but fading); dorsal ocelli always absent in P. cacivioi sp. nov., P. sinervoi and P. tenebrosus; presence of sexual dimorphism in color pattern in P. ceii and P. manuelae, but not in P. cacivioi sp. nov., P. sinervoi and P. tenebrosus. Transverse rows of white spots on the back are always present in Phymaturus cacivioi sp. nov.; this character is shared with P. calcogaster and an individual of P. manuelae but is absent in P. tenebrosus, P. sinervoi and P. ceii. Dorsum of trunk with red-brown background color only present in P. cacivioi sp. nov., and in a few individuals of P. manuelae and P. calcogaster (but combined with white dispersed spots). A similar color is observed in P. manuelae, but the dorsal pattern is quite different. The occurrence of complete melanic individuals (MCN collection) is different in the three species: Phymaturus cacivioi sp. nov. 36%, P. ceii 13.4%, and P. tenebrosus 76.9%. In P. sitesi, P. tenebrosus and P. ceii an individual with irregular melanic coloring on body or limbs was exceptionally observed. Melanic individuals of the three species are easily recognizable because they have the characters observed in the non-melanic individuals. Throats of P. cacivioi sp. nov. are variegated as in P. sinervoi, and P. tenebrosus; P. manuelae lacks any kind of pattern, and P. ceii exhibits similar variegation but fading, almost inconspicuous (see Fig. 2 in Scolaro et al., 2007) (P. sitesi idem P. tenebrosus, P. delheyi variegated). Tails of P. sinervoi are spotted in white as on the trunk; this character was not included in Lobo et al. (2012a) and probably is a synapomorphy of P. payuniae, P. nevadoi, P. sitesi and P. delheyi. In P. cacivioi sp. nov., P. ceii, and P. tenebrosus tails are slightly ringed or variegated or they lack pattern at all (P. tenebrosus). Color in life of the belly in both sexes is pink in P. cacivioi sp. nov. or pink-orange in males, pink/orange in P. sinervoi females and orange to yellow in males; yellow in males of P. manuelae and light pink to lack of color in females. In P. ceii it is yellow in males and white to light pink in females. Belly yellow/mustard in males of P. tenebrosus, and light orange in females. Midbody scale number in Phymaturus cacivioi sp. nov. (¢ = 203.2; SD = 8.2; range = 187-213), similarly to P. tenebrosus (¢ = 199.2; SD = 20.2; range = 171236); but the number is lower than in P. manuelae (¢ = 218.3; SD = 9.7; range = 208-233), P. ceii (¢ = 223.8; SD = 10.7; range = 204-242), and P. sinervoi (¢ = 227.0; SD = 9.9; range = 213-248 after Scolaro et al., 2012).The number of scales in contact with nasal are fewer in P. cacivioi sp. nov. (¢ = 7.05; SD = 0.70; range = 6-8), in P. ceii (¢ = 8.18; SD = 0.87; range = 7-9) but similar to the number in P. manuelae (¢ = 7.43; SD = 0.8; range = 6-8) and P. tenebrosus (¢ = 7.56; SD = 1.09; range = 6-9); the number of scales in contact with mental in P. cacivioi sp. nov.( ¢ = 4.26; SD = 0.65; range = 4-6) is also lower than in P. ceii (¢ = 5.18; SD = 0.98; range = 4-6) but similar to that in P. tenebrosus (¢ = 4.25; SD = 0.58; range = 4-6), P. manuelae (¢ = 4.28; SD = 0.5; range = 4-5) and P. sinervoi (¢ = 4.70; SD = 0.8; sensu Scolaro et al., 2012). Larger number of precloacal pores in males than in females in Phymaturus cacivioi sp. nov. (x̅ = 9.36 SD = 1.91 range = 6-12); a similar range is reported by Scolaro et al. 2012 for P. sinervoi: (6-13); P. ceii (x̅ = 7.71 SD = 1.6 range = 5-10); P. tenebrosus (x̅ = 8.50 SD =1 range = 7-9); P. manuelae (¢ = 8.33 SD = 1.5 range = 7-10). Precloacal pores are present in 50% of females of P. cacivioi sp. nov. and absent in all females of P. ceii, P. sinervoi (according to Scolaro et al., 2012), P. manuelae and P. tenebrosus. Body size of P. cacivioi sp. nov. (SVL x̅ = 91.93; SD = 5.02; range = 78.9-98,71) is similar to that of P. sinervoi (x̅ = 91.7; SD = 5.5, after Scolaro et al., 2012) being a little smaller in P. ceii (x̅ = 85.57; SD = 4.79; range = 74.35-92.03) and a little larger in P. manuelae (x̅ = 93,1; SD = 6.6; range = 83.3-100,4) and in P. tenebrosus (x̅ = 94.81; SD = 6.38; range = 85-107.52). Most informative characters for this diagnosis are presented in Table 1; character states exhibited by species closely related to P.cacivioi sp. nov. are shown. |
| Comment | Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017). |
| Etymology | “Named in honour of our Argentine colleague and friend Pedro Matías Cacivio, in recognition of his enthusiasm and companionship during several field trips and laboratory work”. Pedro Matias Cacivio (b.1975) is a herpetologist who was a student at Facultad de Ciencia Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste, Chaco, Argentina (2001). |
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