Riama yumborum AGUIRRE-PENAFIEL & TORRES-CARVAJAL, SALES-NUNES, PECK & MADDOCK, 2014
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Riama yumborum
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| Higher Taxa | Gymnophthalmidae (Cercosaurinae), Sauria, Gymnophthalmoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Yumbo riamas S: palos de los Yumbos |
| Synonym | Riama yumborum AGUIRRE-PENAFIEL & TORRES-CARVAJAL, SALES-NUNES, PECK & MADDOCK 2014 |
| Distribution | Ecuador (Pichincha) Type locality: Nanegal, Santa Lucía Cloud Forest Reserve, 0.11778° N; 78.607555° W (DD, WGS84), 1580–1591 m, Provincia Pichincha, Ecuador |
| Reproduction | oviparous (manual imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: QCAZ 10827, adult male, collected on 9 March 2010 by B. Tolhurst, P. Mafla-Endara, S. Ryan, and X. Cueva. Paratypes (5). ECUADOR: Provincia Pichincha: QCAZ 10822, female, same collection data as holotype; QCAZ 11077, 11079, 11080, 11081, males from Nanegal, Santa Lucía Cloud Forest Reserve, 0.11928° N; 78.59647° W (DD), 1585 m, Provincia Pichincha, Ecuador, collected on September 2009 by S. Maddock. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: In addition to the molecular data discussed below, Riama yumborum can be distinguished from its congeners by the combination of two characters: incomplete nasoloreal suture and a cylindrical hemipenial body with diagonally orientated flounces on its lateral aspect. In addition, males of the new species seem to have a large number (13 per leg; n = 1) of femoral pores. Other species with an incomplete nasoloreal suture in some individuals include Riama anatoloros (Kizirian 1996), R. colomaromani, R. simotera, R. stigmatoral, and R. columbiana (Andersson 1914). From R. anatoloros (character states in parentheses), the new species can be distinguished by usually having a single, anterior superciliary (usually complete series of four superciliaries), 13 femoral pores in males (femoral pores 7–11), and by lacking both dorsolateral stripes (such stripes present) and scales between medialmost femoral pores in males (4–12 scales). From R. colomaromani (character states in parentheses), the new species differs in having 22–23 transverse rows of ventral scales (18–21 rows), 13 femoral pores in males (femoral pores 7–9), and by lacking both scales between medialmost femoral pores in males (2–4 scales) and by lacking femoral pores in females (one pore on each side). From R. simotera (character states in parentheses), the new species can be distinguished by having usually a single, anterior superciliary (complete series of 3–4 superciliaries), striated dorsal scales (dorsals smooth), 27–29 longitudinal dorsal scale rows (19–26 rows), 13 femoral pores in males (femoral pores 5–7), and by lacking scales between medialmost femoral pores in males (2–3 scales), and by lacking femoral pores in females (5–7 pores on each side). From R. stigmatoral (character states in parentheses), R. yumborum differs in having 13 femoral pores in males (femoral pores 8–11), an average SVL = 54.5 mm (79 mm), and in lacking anterior cloacal plate scales in males (0-2). From R. columbiana (character states in parentheses) the new species is different in having striated dorsal scales (dorsals with low, rounded keel), 13 femoral pores in males (femoral pores 10), and in lacking scales between medialmost femoral pores in males (5–6 scales). Other species of Riama with 13 or more femoral pores on each side in males are R. orcesi (Kizirian 1995), R. unicolor, and R. luctuosa (Peters 1862). The new species differs from them in having an incomplete (usually one) series of superciliaries. From R. orcesi (character states in parentheses), R. yumborum can be distinguished further by having an incomplete (complete) nasoloreal suture, dorsal scales keeled (dorsal scales striated), longitudinal dorsal scale rows in males 28–29 (13–23), and lateral scale rows 2–3 (4–8); from R. unicolor (character states in parentheses) by having 28–29 (20–26) longitudinal dorsal scale rows in males; from R. luctuosa by having an incomplete nasoloreal suture (complete in R. luctuosa). Hemipenial morphology can be used to distinguish Riama yumborum from all other species of Riama for which hemipenial morphology is known, except R. balneator (Kizirian 1996), R. cashcaensis, and R. unicolor, by having the lateral aspect of the hemipenial body ornamented with columns of diagonal flounces instead of chevron- shaped or transverse flounces. It differs from R. balneator in having rows of diagonal spinulate flounces (non- spinulate flounces in R. balneator). In lacking one or more isolated transverse spinulate flounces at the base of the asulcate side it differs from R achlyens (Uzzell 1958), R. afrania (Arredondo & Sánchez-Pacheco 2010), R. crypta (Sánchez-Pacheco et al. 2011), R. hyposticta (Boulenger 1902), R. laudahnae (Köhler & Lehr 2004), and R. orcesi. The new species can be further distinguished from R. crypta, R. hyposticta, and R. laudahnae by lacking distal filiform appendages on the hemipenial lobes. In having a cylindrical hemipenial body, it differs from R. achlyens, R. anatoloros, R. afrania, R. cashcaensis, R. colomaromani, R. crypta, R. hyposticta, R. laudahnae, R. striata (Peters 1862), R. simotera, and R. unicolor, which have an elongate, globose or conical hemipenial body. |
| Comment | Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017). |
| Etymology | The specific epithet, a noun in the genitive plural case0which translates to “of the Yumbos,” honors the Yumbo culture (800–1660 A.D.), a pre-Incan civilization that inhabited the same area where Riama yumborum was discovered (Chávez 2007). |
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