A new species of the genus Acanthosaura (Squamata, Agamidae) from Yunnan, China, with comments on its conservation status

Abstract

A new species of Acanthosaura from Yunnan, China, is described based on morphological and genetic data. The new species can be separated from all other species of the genus by having a different shape of the black eye patch, a different coloration of the postorbital and occipital spines and nuchal crest, and a different color of the gular pouch. Genetically, uncorrected sequence divergences of COI between the new species and investigated congeners ranged from 16.12% to 24.11%. The conservation status of the new species is also discussed.

Acanthosaura meridiona sp. nov. (Squamata: Agamidae), a new short-horned lizard from southern Thailand

“…Acanthosaura meridiona sp. nov. differs from A. liui Liu et al, 2020 in having smaller HL/SVL ratio (0.18 -0.21 vs 0.30 -0.31), smaller HW/SVL ratio (0.15 -0.19 vs 0.21 -0.23), greater ORBIT/HL ratio (0.44 -0.53 vs 0.09 -0.10), greater TD/HL ratio (0.14 -0.27 vs 0.03 -0.04), greater PS/HL ratio (0.16 -0.25 vs 0.07 -0.11), more NS (8 -10 vs 5 -7), more VENT (60 -67 vs 52 -56), fewer RS (3 -6 vs 8 -9) and fewer PM (4 vs 5 -6).…”

“…A total of 34 specimens of six Acanthosaura species in Thailand, including one from Vietnam, were examined from THNHM and QSMI (Appendix 1). All data of currently recognised Acanthosaura species were obtained from Günther (1861), Boulenger (1885), Ananjeva et al (2008), Wood et al (2009), Wood et al (2010), Ananjeva et al (2011), Nguyen et al (2018), Pauwels et al (2015), Nguyen et al (2019), Trivalairat et al (2020, Ananjeva et al (2020), andLiu et al (2020). Meristic and measured morphological characters were noted for each specimen of the type series on the left side followed Pauwels et al (2015), Liu et al (2020), andAnanjeva et al (2020).…”

“…A gamid lizards of the genus Acanthosaura Gray, 1831 are distributed in south-east Asia with a range extending from Myanmar, eastward through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Yunnan and southward through the Indochinese and Thai -Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Anambas and Natunus Archipelagos (Taylor, 1963;Grismer et al, 2008;Manthey, 2008;Das, 2010;Wood et al, 2010;Ananjeva et al, 2011Ananjeva et al, , 2020Pauwels et al, 2015;Trivalairat et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2020). Previously, Acanthosaura crucigera (Boulenger, 1885) was described from the type locality in Tavoy with a distribution, covering the distribution of the entire genus (Boulenger, 1912;Taylor, 1963;Pauwels et al, 2003;Grismer et al, 2006;Manthey, 2008).…”