Iphisa elegans Gray, 1851

Albano, Anna V., Mello, Recoder, Renato S., Fouquet, Antoine, Rodrigues, Miguel T. & Nunes, Pedro M. S., 2024, Integrative taxonomy of the Iphisa elegans Gray, 1851 species complex (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) leads to the description of five new species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 200 (2), pp. 477-504 : 486-487

Iphisa elegans Gray, 1851

( Fig. 7A, B ); OTUs 1a

Iphisa elegans : Gray 1851: p. 39; Amaral 1937 a: p. 1740; 1937b: p. 191; Ávila-Pires 1995: p. 386 (part); Boulenger 1885: p. 424; Burt and Burt 1930: p. 66; Cunha 1961: p. 153; Dixon 1974: p. 136 (part); Hoogmoed 1973: p. 279 (part); 1975: p. 158; 1979: p. 278; 1989: p. 168; Nunes et al. 2012 (part: 361–376p); Peters et al. 1970: p. 150; Vanzolini 1972: p. 105; Ribeiro-Júnior et al. 2017: pp. 169–170 (part).

Iphisa elegans elegans : Dixon 1974: p. 138 (part); Avila-Pires 1995: p. 601; Ribeiro-Júnior et al. 2017: pp. 169–170 (part).

Holotype: BMNH 1946.9.1.1, adult male, British Museum of Natural History; type locality within 300 miles (482 Km) from Pará ( Gray 1851); Hoogmoed (1973) restricted the locality to a radius of 300 miles from the city of Belém, Pará, Brazil. Collected by A. R. Wallace and H. W. Bates.

Measurements of holotype: Snout–vent length 53.3 mm; trunk length between limbs 27.9 mm; head length 11.4 mm; head width 5.7 mm. Original description matches measurements observed in the holotype.

Diagnosis: (i) Femoral pores usually present in females (0–23 pores, modal value = 0; absent in 40%); (2) seven supralabials in most specimens (70%); frequently the fifth supralabial is the largest (76%); third and fourth supralabials under the eye (80%); (iii) prefrontal scales present (99%); and (4) exclusive hemipenial morphotype 4.

Sexual dimorphism and variation: Iphisa elegans is sexually dimorphic, with females larger than males in SVL and TRL, but males have larger heads ( ANOVA, P <.05). Males have more femoral pores than females (Kruskal– Wallis, Χ 2 = 48.3, P <.01, mean = 18 and 7, respectively). Females have more dorsal and ventral scales than males (Kruskal– Wallis, P <.01). Six supralabials are present in 8% of I. elegans specimens from Lago Chaviana and Moiobamba (Amazonas) and Porto Velho (Rondônia), Igarapé Camaipi and Serra do Navio (Amapá). Variation in pholidosis is summarized in Table 1.

Distribution: Iphisa elegans is distributed in northern Amazonia, on the left margin of the Amazon River, in the Guiana Shield. Southwards, west from the Purus–Madeira interfluvium, the distribution extends to the right bank of the Amazon River (red in Fig. 2 ).

Remarks: The attribution of the name I. elegans to one of the candidate species proposed here was challenging because the imprecision in the geographical location of the holotype. Apparently based on the historical record of the route taken by the collectors (A. R. Wallace and H. W. Bates) and with no further justification, Gray (1851) defined the estimated collection area for the holotype as ‘a 300-mile circuit in Pará State - municipality of Belém ( Hoogmoed 1973)’. However, the route taken by Wallace and Bates extrapolates 300 miles from Belém; therefore, considering records of the journey by Wallace and Bates on the Amazon River ( Wallace 1889), two possibilities seemed reasonable for the association of the holotype I. elegans Gray, 1851 : OTU 1, occurring from the Guiana Shield to the west of Brazil; or OTU 4, distributed in central and eastern Amazonia ( Fig. 2 ). These OTUs are separated by the Amazon River over a large part of their distribution ( OTU 1 north and OTU 4 south). This prevented us from determining on which riverbank the holotype was collected; therefore, we decided to base our decision on the morphological congruences between the holotype and the morphological variation described for each of the two OTUs involved. Although specimens from both OTUs overlap for most of the meristic and morphometric characters, the frequency of occurrence of supralabial scale counts in each OTU is remarkably different (Table 1; Fig. 4 ). In OTU 1, the most common condition is the presence of seven supralabials (80%), whereas in OTU 4 it is six supralabials (93%). Given that the holotype ( BMNH 1946.9.1.1) has seven supralabials, we decided that attributing the name I. elegans Gray, 1851 to OTU 1 is the most reasonable option.

Figures

Figure 2. Distribution of eight Operational Taxonomic Units of Iphisa genus proposed: The dots with geographical distributions of OTUs are coloured according to the main genetic clusters (Fig.1). Also, polygons with distribution of the seven species of Iphisa genus proposed: Red:Iphisa elegans stricto sensu; Pink: I. soinii comb. nov.; Yellow: Iphisa surui sp. nov.; Light blue: Iphisa dorothy sp. nov.; Purple: Iphisa pellegrino sp. nov.; Dark blue: Iphisa munduruku sp. nov.; Green: Iphisa brunopereira sp. nov.; T = Type locality (See about Iphisa elegans holotype locality Remarks session). Symbols with black dots inside are samples with molecular, morphology and hemipenes data.Translucide white dots are individuals from literature. River names are within white squares (Fig.1).

Figure 4. Above, frequencies of prefrontal condition: presence (Light grey) or absence (Dark grey) among OTUs.Below, frequencies of six (Dark grey) or seven (Light grey) supralabials among OTUs.

Figure 7. Colour variation in individuals of genus Iphisa to the seven species: A = Iphisa elegans stricto sensu (Japurá - AM), photo: Pedro Ivo Simões; B = Iphisa elegans stricto sensu (Canutama State Forest - AM), photo:Vinícius Carvalho; C = Iphisa soinii comb. nov. (Serra do Divisor - AC), photo: Pedro Peloso; D = Iphisa surui sp. nov. (Juara - MT), photo: Ricardo Kawashita-Ribeiro.E = Iphisa dorothy sp. nov. (Juruena - MT), photo: Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues; F = Iphisa pellegrino sp. nov. (PARNA Nasc. Lago Jari - AM), photo:Vinícius Carvalho; G = Iphisa munduruku sp. nov. (Igarapé-açú, Abacaxis River - AM), photo: Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues.H = Iphisa brunopereira sp. nov. (Içá River, AM), photo: Renato Recoder.