Liolaemus tropidonotus Boulenger, 1902

Pincheira-Donoso, Daniel, Scolaro, J. Alejandro & Sura, Piotr, 2008, A monographic catalogue on the systematics and phylogeny of the South American iguanian lizard family Liolaemidae (Squamata, Iguania), Zootaxa 1800, pp. 1-85 : 44

Liolaemus tropidonotus Boulenger

Liolaemus tropidonotus Boulenger 1902: 397 (type locality: “Tirapata, E Peru, 13000 feet ”, see Núñez 2004: 33). Liolaemus multiformis Burt & Burt 1931: 227 (see Núñez 2004).

Observations: Liolaemus tropidonotus represents an additional controversial species apparently related to L. annectens and L. signifer . After its original description ( Boulenger 1902), Burt & Burt (1931) placed this taxon into the synonymy of L. multiformis (which is in turn a synonym of L. annectens fide Laurent 1992 ; see also Etheridge & Espinoza 2000). However, in a recent taxonomic reassessment, Núñez (2004) suggested that the type series of L. tropidonotus (preserved in the British Museum of Natural History of London) exhibits substantial patterns of morphological differentiation from the group of Andean species consisting of L. annectens , L. pleopholis and L. signifer (see Cei 1993; Pincheira-Donoso & Núñez 2005). This author concluded that the distinctive traits observed among these taxa do not support the idea of their synonymy, and that therefore, L. tropidonotus should be revalidated, at least while a more detailed evaluation provides contrary evidence. Since no other study has so far been presented, we follow Núñez’s (2004) criteria, and recognize L. tropidonotus as a species different from L. annectens and L. signifer . We believe that these morphological contrasts (see Núñez 2004, for details) may be the result of independent adaptive radiations leading to fully segregated phylogenetic lines.