USING MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR EVIDENCE TO INFER SPECIES BOUNDARIES WITHIN PROCTOPORUS BOLIVIANUS WERNER (SQUAMATA: GYMNOPHTHALMIDAE)

Proctoporus bolivianus is a gymnophthalmid lizard species that occurs at high elevations in the Andes Mountains of southern Peru and Bolivia. Extensive morphological variation in populations collected in the Department of Cusco, Peru, suggested the presence of cryptic species. To assess this possibi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Herpetologica Vol. 59; no. 3; pp. 432 - 449
Main Authors:	Doan, Tiffany M., Castoe, Todd A.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Herpetologists' League 01-09-2003
Subjects:	Andes Animal scales Biological taxonomies Cream Cryptic species Cusco Gymnophthalmidae Herpetology Holotypes Lizards New species Paratypes Peru Phylogenetics Phylogeny Plant morphology Proctoporus bolivianus Proctoporus sucullucu Proctoporus unsaacae South America Squamata Taxonomy
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Summary:	Proctoporus bolivianus is a gymnophthalmid lizard species that occurs at high elevations in the Andes Mountains of southern Peru and Bolivia. Extensive morphological variation in populations collected in the Department of Cusco, Peru, suggested the presence of cryptic species. To assess this possibility, we reconstructed morphological and molecular phylogenies of 13 populations of this species and also used a character-based approach to examine the morphology in more detail. We found P. bolivianus to be composed of three distinct lineages that are separated by substantial genetic distances. We erect two new species to contain unnamed lineages within the P. bolivianus complex. These three species are found within a small geographic area and are likely differentiated because of historical geographic barriers in the extreme landscape of the central Andes.
ISSN:	0018-0831 1938-5099
DOI:	10.1655/03-09