Enyalioides touzeti, Torres-Carvajal & Almendariz & Valencia & Yanez-Munoz & Reyes, 2008

Torres-Carvajal, Omar, Almendáriz, Ana, Valencia, Jorge, Yánez-Muñoz, Mario & Reyes, Juan P., 2008, A new species of ENYALIOIDES (Iguanidae: Hoplocercinae) from southwestern Ecuador, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (São Paulo) 48 (20), pp. 227-235 : 228-231

Enyalioides touzeti sp. nov.

Holotype – EPN 10306 , an adult male from Finca La Envidia (3°3’0”S, 79°41’25”W, 433 m) Santa Marta hill, Cantón Ponce Enríquez, Provincia Azuay, Ecuador, collected on 13 March 2007 by A. Almendáriz and J. Hernández.

Paratypes – ECUADOR: Provincia Azuay: FHGO 1205 , 1451 , two females from Tamarindo (2°47’S, 79°33’W, 400 m), collected on 22 April 1995 and 8 April 1996, respectively, by J.M. Touzet; Provincia Cañar: DH-MECN 1396 , a male from Manta Real (2°34’S, 79°21’W, 300 m), collected on 10 April 2006 by P. Meza-Ramos, C. Tobar, and J.F. Rivadeneira; Provincia El Oro: DH-MECN 2575 , 3847 , two females from Buenaventura Biological Reserve (3°38’43”S, 79°45’48”W, 600 m) collected on 24 December 2006 and 22 June 2006, respectively by M. Yánez-Muñoz, P. Meza-Ramos, M. Reyes, and J.P. Reyes; EPN 10307 , a female, same collection data as the holotype; EPN 10700 , 10720 , 10735 , two females and one male, respectively, collected on 24-27 August 2007 nearby the type locality by A. Almendáriz and C. Padilla .

Diagnosis – Enyalioides touzeti ( Fig. 1 ) can be distinguished from other species of Enyalioides by the combination of the following characters: (1) ventrals keeled; (2) paravertebrals small, imbricate, and strongly keeled; (3) vertebral scales on neck region in adult males more than twice as high as vertebrals on pelvic region; (4) femoral pores on each side one or two; (5) lateral aspects of body and neck strongly folded; (6) vertebral crest continuous along neck and body; (7) scales on body and limbs homogeneous in size; (8) caudal segments distinct; (9) gular region in adult males dark.

Description of holotype – Dorsal head scales strongly keeled; scales immediately posterior to supraciliares conical and dorsally projected, forming longitudinal row of eight (left) or nine (right) scales that extends posteriorly over supratemporal region; other temporal scales small, keeled, imbricate; two (left) or three (right) projected, conical temporal scales forming an anterodorsally oriented row starting at anterodorsal aspect of tympanum; one enlarged pretympanic scale; supraciliares 14 (right) or 15 (left); canthals five (left) or six (right); postrostrals three; left supralabials 14 if counted to a point right below middle of eye, and 18 if counted to comisure of mouth (15 and 20 on right side, respectively); rostral as wide and high as adjacent supralabials; single longitudinal row of lorilabials between suboculars and supralabials at level of middle of eye, longitudinal rows of lorilabials anterior to this point three; loreal region broken into small, longitudinally elongated, and keeled scales; nasal at level of supralabials IV-V; left infralabials 14 if counted to a point right below middle of eye, and 17 if counted to comisure of mouth (15 and 19 on right side, respectively); mental as wide but longer than adjacent infralabials; postmentals three; gulars with ventrally projected keels; prominent gular fold complete midventrally; neck with several longitudinal and oblique folds.

Vertebral crest strongly projected and decreasing in size posteriorly with vertebrals on neck at least two times higher than vertebrals between hind limbs; crest bifurcates posteriorly and extends onto tail less than ¼ its length; body flanks between fore and hind limbs with prominent dorsolateral and ventrolateral folds, as well as several vertical and oblique folds; scales on dorsolateral folds slightly larger than adjacent scales giving the fold the appearance of a crest; scales between dorsolateral folds and vertebral crest small, prominently keeled, and imbricate; scales on flanks, ventral to dorsolateral folds, smaller than dorsal scales, nearly granular; ventral scales strongly keeled, imbricate, more than twice the size of dorsals.

Limb scales strongly keeled; scales on dorsal and posterior aspects of thighs less than half the size of those scales on anterior and ventral aspects; subdigitals on left and right Finger IV 17 and 16, respectively; subdigitals on left and right Toe IV 21 and 22, respectively; one femoral pore on each side; tail laterally compressed and gradually decreasing in height towards tip; caudal scales keeled and imbricate, not projected; ventral larger than dorsal caudals, with individual caudal whorls being three scales long ventrally and 6-7 scales long dorsally.

Color in life of holotype – Head olive-green with yellowish-green labials, some of which have salmon spots; discontinuous yellowish stripe extends posteriorly from mouth comisure to ventral margin of tympanum; a similar longitudinal stripe extends from posterior margin of tympanum to scapular region; dorsal background olive-green; pale-yellow round spots covering dorsal aspect of body, limbs, and proximal portion of tail; chin and gular region covered with dark patch; a few scales on chin clay; ventral surface of body and limbs light brown with dark irregular marks; iris reddish brown; pupil round with yellow margin.

Variation – Variation of meristic and morphometric characters in E. touzeti are presented in Table 2.

Females lack the dark gular patch present in adult males. Whereas female paratype EPN 10307 had a nearly uniform light brown dorsal background ( Fig. 1 ), female paratype DH-MECN 3847 ( Fig. 2 ) had an olive-green dorsal background covered with large dark spots (some open in the center) on body, limbs, and tail. However, the large spots were visible, although faint, in several parts of the body of the light brown female ( EPN 10307 ). A juvenile female ( DH-MECN 2575 ) had the following coloration in life: dorsal and lateral aspects of head grey; dorsal background of body, limbs, and tail reddish brown with scattered grey marks; six large, grey spots with whitish centers form a dorsolateral longitudinal row between fore and hind limbs on each side; venter white. A male paratype ( DH-MECN 1396 ) differed from the holotype by having a lighter dorsal background with a dark reticulate pattern that formed a middorsal longitudinal series of transverse bars that continues onto tail as a series of dark rings incomplete ventrally. Another male ( EPN 10735 ) differed from the holotype by having only the posterior portion of the gular region covered by a dark patch, whereas the anterior portion and chin were densely covered by dark flecks ( Fig. 2 ); in addition, the ventral background color of this specimen was whitish cream with scattered light brown marks .

Distribution and ecology – Enyalioides touzeti inhabits lowland cloud forests on the western slopes of the Andes in southern Ecuador ( Fig. 3 ). It occurs at elevations of 300-700 m in Provincias Azuay, Cañar, and El Oro. This species is not known to occur in sympatry with other hoplocercines, although E. heterolepis and E. oshaughnessyi occur at nearby localities. The type locality of E. touzeti is dominated by a regenerating secondary forest that lies nearby the “Bosque Siempreverde Piemontano” formation, which is characterized by high levels of humidity and tall trees (> 20 m), some of which are covered by lichens, mosses, and other epiphytes ( Sierra et al., 1999). Similar to other species of Enyalioides , specimens of E. touzeti were found active on the ground or sleeping in branches (e.g., Vitt & de la Torre, 1996). One female ( EPN 10700) was found lying horizontally on a 2 cm-diameter branch 30 cm above ground at 4:30 PM; another female ( EPN 10720) was found active on the ground at 4:00 PM; and a male ( EPN 10735) was found sleeping on a tree fern branch in vertical position at 8:20 PM.

Etymology – The specific name is a noun in the genitive case and is a patronym for Jean-Marc Touzet, who has made important contributions to the study and conservation of the herpetofauna of Ecuador including valuable collections and the establishment of the Gustavo Orcés Herpetological Foundation in Quito. Touzet has had a great positive impact in the careers of many Ecuadorian herpetologists including most of the authors in this paper. He was the first person to collect a specimen of the species described herein, which he recognized as an undescribed species of Enyalioides .

Figures

FIGURE 1: Adult male (top; holotype, EPN 10306) and female (bottom; paratopotype, EPN 10307) of Enyalioides touzeti sp. nov.

FIGURE 2: Three species of Enyalioides from western Ecuador. Female (A; DH-MECN 3847) and male (B; EPN 10735) of E. touzeti sp. nov.; male (C); juvenile (D), and female (E) of E. oshaughnessyi; male of E. heterolepis (F).

FIGURE 3: Distribution of Enyalioides oshaughnessyi and E. touzeti sp. nov. in Ecuador.