First record of Macropholidus ruthveni Noble 1921 (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from Ecuador

Abstract

The gymnophthalmid lizard clade Macropholidus, traditionally ranked as a genus, was recently defined by Torres-Carvajal and Mafla-Endara (2013) as the largest crown clade containing Macropholidus ruthveni Noble1921, but not Pholidobolus montium Peters 1863. This phylogenetic definition (de Queiroz and Gauthier, 1994) is based on a phylogenetic tree obtained from analyses of mitochondrial DNA nucleotide sequence data (Torres-Carvajal and Mafla-Endara, 2013), and is in conflict with previous non-phylogenetic definitions of both Pholidobolus and Macropholidus (Montanucci, 1973; Reeder, 1996) based on morphological data. In contrast to Pholidobolus, members of Macropholidus have a single transparent palpebral disc in the lower eyelid and lack a lateral fold between fore and hind limbs (Torres-Carvajal and Mafla-Endara, 2013).