Gelanesaurus sp.

Diago-Toro, María F., García-Cobos, Daniela, Brigante-Luna, Giovanni D. & Vásquez-Restrepo, Juan D., 2021, Fantastic lizards and where to find them: cis-Andean microteiids (Squamata: Alopoglossidae & Gymnophthalmidae) from the Colombian Orinoquia and Amazonia, Zootaxa 5067 (3), pp. 377-400 : 387

Gelanesaurus sp.

Distribution: Along the Amazon foothills of Ecuador and Colombia ( Fang et al. 2020; Gutiérrez et al. 2020). In Colombia this genus is known from the Putumayo and Caquetá departments ( Fig. 4C ).

Similar species: The species of Gelanesaurus resemble superficially to Neusticurus medemi and Potamites ecpleopus , however, they can be distinguished in having four rows of enlarged keeled scales on dorsum forming longitudinal ridges (small irregular scales non-forming ridges in N. medemi , and six rows of tubercles in P. ecpleopus ); and a black spot in the nostril (without black spot in N. medemi and P. ecpleopus ). Within Gelanesaurus , G. cochranae and G. flavogularis are distinguished by the number of scales around midbody (45–56 in G. cochranae , 37–48 in G. flavogularis ); the number of lamellae under toe IV (18–21 in G. cochranae , 15–18 in G. flavogularis ); the number of femoral pores in males (22–25 in G. cochranae , 19–21 in G. flavogularis ); and sexual dimorphism in color (absent in G. cochranae , present in G. flavogularis with males having a conspicuous white or cream gular and ventral region whereas females possess a brownish coloration). See Fang et al. (2020) for a detailed description.

Remarks: We could not examine most of the available specimens from Colombia because they are being used by other researchers in an ongoing study. However, we obtained in-life photographs of individuals from Caquetá and Putumayo, and one of them agreed with the conspicuous gular coloration present in the males of G. flavogularis . Since G. flavogularis has not been officially reported for Colombia and we could not corroborate its presence with a supporting voucher specimen, we preferred to be conservative and report the genus only, considering that there may be more than one species in Colombia.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Distribution maps for the cis-Andean microteiid lizards in Colombia (Alopoglossidae + Gymnophthalmidae). Circles are examined specimens, while squares are records from literature (see Supplementary Files for specific references). Red arrows indicate new records for Colombia. Black arrows show a zoom in to regions where several records overlap. The light green shadow indicates the Orinoco River basin, and the dark green the Amazon River basin.