A new species of Pholidobolus (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Andes of southern Ecuador.

Abstract

We describe a new species of Pholidobolus lizard from the Amazonian slopes of the Andes of southern Ecuador. Among other characters, the new species differs from other species of Pholidobolus in having a distinct diagonal white stripe extending from the fourth genial scale to the fore limb. We present a phylogeny based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data as additional evidence supporting delimitation of the new species, which is sister to all other species of Pholidobolus. Our phylogeny further supports the south-to-north speciation hypothesis proposed for other lizard clades from the northern Andes.