Anolis tequendama, Moreno-Arias & Méndez-Galeano & Beltrán & Vargas-Ramírez, 2023

Moreno-Arias, Rafael A., Mendez-Galeano, Miguel A., Beltran, Ivan & Vargas-Ramirez, Mario, 2023, Revealing anole diversity in the highlands of the Northern Andes: New and resurrected species of the Anolis heterodermus species group, Vertebrate Zoology 73, pp. 161-188 : 161

Anolis tequendama sp. nov.

Anolis heterodermus Castañeda and de Queiroz (2013) supplementary material. [ICN 10609]

Holotype.

ICN 4548. Adult male with everted hemipenis, dewlap present, enlarged postanal scales. From the Vereda Sabaneta, San Francisco municipality, Cundinamarca department, Colombia (4.891173°N - 74.289925°W, 2850 m), collected by Henry Zuñiga and Jane R. Rodríguez in 1981.

Paratypes.

ICN 4546 and 4547 adult male and female, respectively from the same locality data of the holotype, collected by Jose Vicente Rueda in 1981. ICN 5734 adult female from Cueva Grande hill From the Vereda Sabaneta, San Francisco municipality, Cundinamarca department, Colombia, collected by Henry Zúñiga in 1981. ICN-1499 adult male from the Vereda de Fute, Las Mercedes, Bojacá municipality, Cundinamarca department, Colombia (4.616388°N - 74.281944°W, 2600 m), collected by J. Hernandez-Camacho in 1962. ICN 5765 (adult female) from Laguna de Pedro Palo, Tena municipality, Cundinamarca department, Colombia (4.683888°N - 74.387222°W, 2050 m), collected by Oscar Pinto in 1981. ICN 9688 (adult female) from Barro Colorado, La Agüadita, Fusagasugá municipality, Cundinamarca department, Colombia (4.388888°N - 74.334444°W, 1800 m), collected by D. Rivera in 1990. ICN 10609 (adult male) from Granjas del Padre Luna, Alban municipality, Cundinamarca department, Colombia (4.899133°N - 74.424122°W, 2090 m), collected by John D. Lynch in 1985.

Diagnosis.

Anolis tequendama sp. nov. shares short limbs, a large casqued head, a prehensile tail without caudal autotomy, and lamellar subdigital scales of all digits extending from the most proximal phalanges with the other species of the Phenacosaurus clade. Anolis tequendama sp. nov. differs from A. proboscis , A. orcesi , A. euskalerriari and A. nicefori , by its strongly heterogeneous dorsal scalation. Anolis tequendama sp. nov. differs from A. nicefori by the presence of granular scales surrounding dorsal heterogeneous flat scales. A. tequendama sp. nov. differs from A. heterodermus , A. richteri , A. tetarii , A. inderenae , A. vanzolinii and A. quimbaya sp. nov. by a male dewlap colour uniformly brown or brown bluish. Anolis tequendama sp. nov. further differs from A. inderenae , A. heterodermus , A. richteri and A. tetarii by the presence of a discontinuous nuchal crest, from A. heterodermus and A. inderenae by the presence of a continuous row of enlarged sublabials that do not reach the mouth commissure; from A. heterodermus by a V-shaped crown; and from A. vanzolinii by <24 expanded lamellae under second and third phalange of fourth toe and <35 lamellae in total fourth toe.

Etymology.

The specific epithet is used as a noun in apposition. The name refers to the Tequendama Falls, a popular waterfall near Bogotá that is part of the Bogotá River and has cosmological importance for the Muisca indigenous people; inhabitants of the Bogotá Plateau. In the Muisca language (called " Muysccubun "), Tequendama means "he who precipitates downward", referring to the waterfall.

Common name.

Tequendama anole [English]. Anolis tequendama [Spanish]

External description of holotype.

Snout-vent length = 76.8 mm; head length = 23.4 mm; head width = 11.3 mm; femoral length = 14.6 mm; ear height = 1.2 mm; tail length = 97.1 mm; fourth toe length = 10.3 mm. Dorsal head and supraocular disc scales either rough; frontal depression present; dorsal surface of rostral scale smooth, not notched; five scales across the snout between second canthals; supraorbital semicircles distinct, in contact; no scales separate interparietal and supraorbital semicircles; V-shaped crown; supraocular disc one to three enlarged scales, scales along the medial edge of the supraocular disc broken by larger scales that contact the supraorbital semicircles; one or two elongated supraciliary scales, followed by a series of small scales; two loreal rows; seven total loreals; circumnasal scale no contacts sulcus between rostral and first supralabials, one scale from the naris to the rostral; preoccipital absent; nine supralabials to center of eye; ten infralabials to center of eye; four postrostrals excluding first supralabials; five postmentals excluding first infralabials; mental completely divided posteriorly, extends posterolaterally along with the lateral limits of the rostral, with posterior border in a straight line transverse to head; five sublabials enlarged in contact with infralabials; a row of enlarged sublabials reaching the mouth commissure absent, row of enlarged sublabials beyond posteriorly to a line just below the first canthal absent; dewlap present, not reaching posterior to axillae; rows of single scales on dewlap; tubelike axillary pocket absent; enlarged postcloacal scales. Nuchal and caudal crests present; nuchal crest discontinuous. Dorsal crest to base of tail; dorsal crest discontinuous; one enlarged middorsal row; dorsal scales heterogeneous and smooth; three rows of scales between middorsal crest and the beginning of dorsal flat scales surrounded entirely by granules; size of the flat dorsal scales in HW 1-1-1; six longitudinal dorsal scales in the fifth scale row in 10% of SVL. Ventral scales smooth, slightly overlapped, and rounded apices, in transverse rows; thirteen longitudinal ventral scales in 10% of SVL. Supradigitals smooth; toepads expanded and overlap the first phalanx; twenty expanded lamellae under second and third phalanges of fourth toe; tail crest with a single row of scales.

Paratypes variation.

Snout-vent length = 61.3-79.9 mm (N = 7, mean = 66.8 mm, SD = 9.2 mm); head length = 19.4-24.3 mm; head width = 9.4-12.9 mm; femoral length = 10.0-12.7 mm; ear height = 0.8-1.3 mm; tail length = 75.0-92.0 mm; fourth toe length = 8.1-10.7 mm. Dorsal head and supraocular disc scales rough or smooth; frontal depression present or absent; dorsal surface of rostral scale smooth, not notched; 3-5 scales across the snout between second canthals; supraorbital semicircles distinct, in contact; 0-1 scales separate interparietal and supraorbital semicircles; V-shaped crown; supraocular disc one to three enlarged scales, scales along the medial edge of the supraocular disc broken by larger scales that contact the supraorbital semicircles; one or two elongated supraciliary scales, followed by a series of small scales; 1-2 loreal rows; 4-9 total loreals; circumnasal scale contacts or not the sulcus between rostral and first supralabials, one scale from the naris to the rostral; preoccipital present or absent; 7-11 supralabials to center of eye; 7-11 infralabials to center of eye; 4-5 postrostrals excluding first supralabials; 2-5 postmentals excluding first infralabials; mental completely or partially divided posteriorly, extends or not posterolaterally along with the lateral limits of the rostral, with posterior border in a straight line transverse to head; 5-6 sublabials enlarged in contact with infralabials; a row of enlarged sublabials reaching the mouth commissure absent, row of enlarged sublabials beyond posteriorly to a line just below the first canthal absent; dewlap present, reaching or not posterior to axillae; rows of single scales on dewlap; tubelike axillary pocket absent; enlarged postcloacal scales absent in females, present in males. Nuchal and caudal crests present; nuchal crest discontinuous. Dorsal crest to midbody or to base of tail; dorsal crest discontinuous; 0-1 enlarged middorsal row; dorsal scales heterogeneous and smooth; 2-4 rows of scales between middorsal crest and the beginning of dorsal flat scales surrounded entirely by granules; size of the flat dorsal scales in HW 1-1-1, 1-0.5 and 1-0.5-0.25; 5-8 longitudinal dorsal scales in the fifth scale row in 10% of SVL. Ventral scales smooth, slightly overlapped and rounded apices, in transverse rows; 11-16 longitudinal ventral scales in 10% of SVL. Supradigitals smooth; toepads expanded and overlap the first phalanx; 18-21 expanded lamellae under second and third phalanges of fourth toe; tail crest with a single row of scales.

Colour in life.

Body dorsally brown or yellow, lighter ventrally; transversal black, brown, or blue bands present in most individuals; dorsal surfaces of the body, limbs, and tail with abundant blue, brown and yellow scales, single or in groups forming disorderly spots (Fig. 7C ); white or yellowish line running from the supralabials through the tympanum to the forelimbs; a patch of blue or red scales in the tail base; males commonly show unicoloured (solid) or spotted dewlaps which can be brown with some light coloured scales; females more often show striped dewlaps which are usually yellow with black or brown stripes (Fig. 7C ). Although all Anolis heterodermus subgroup species change their body colour when stressed due to intense manipulation, the colour change in A. tequendama sp. nov. is particularly notorious and often includes changes in dewlap colour.

Habitat, ecology, and behaviour.

Anolis tequendama sp. nov. inhabits scrublands, forests, and cloud forests in the Colombian Andes. This species preferentially uses small branches and narrow surfaces such as twigs and exhibits very slow movements, consistently with their twig anole ecomorph. This species occurs at lower altitudes and generally has a smaller body size compared to A. heterodermus and A. richteri . It has an active thermoregulation strategy compared to A. heterodermus but similar to A. richteri . The sexual and aggressive behaviour of this species have not been studied in detail but research in this area seems promising given their wide variation in body and dewlap colour.

Geographic distribution.

Anolis tequendama is a Colombia endemic lizard inhabiting the northwestern slope of the Eastern Cordillera in Cundinamarca department (Probably also in Boyacá department and in the north and southeast and northernmost parts of Tolima and Huila departments respectively) (Fig. 8 ). Altitudinal range is approximately between 1900 and 2600 m.

Figures

Figure 7. Dewlap and body of female (left) and male (right) of A. quimbaya sp. nov. (A), A. richteri (B) and A. tequendama sp. nov. (C).

Figure 8. Geographic distribution of Anolis heterodermus subgroup species. Circles correspond to the type localities of each species.