Abstract:Chihuahua is Mexico’s largest state, and its physiographic complexity affects the distribution of its herpetofauna. We list amphibians and reptiles for the state of Chihuahua, with their conservation status. We also compare this list to those of six adjoining states in the United States and Mexico (New Mexico, Texas, Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, and Sonora). A total of 175 species of amphibians and reptiles is found in Chihuahua. Thirty-eight are amphibians, and 137 reptiles. Chihuahuan amphibians and reptiles … Show more
“…It is likely that this reflects the more arid nature of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León (i.e., Chihuahuan Desert), compared to the more mountainous Querétaro and Hidalgo. Thus, the numbers and types of shared species among San Luis Potosí and its neighboring states reflects the pattern of habitat and vegetation types found in each neighboring state (see also Smith and Lemos-Espinal 2015 , Lemos-Espinal and Smith 2016 , Lemos-Espinal et al 2017 ). However, the results of the cluster analysis are somewhat different.…”
A summary of the species of amphibians and reptiles of the state has been compiled, including their geographic distributions, habitats, and conservation statuses. The herpetofauna of San Luis Potosí consists of 41 species of amphibians and 141 species of reptiles. San Luis Potosí shares the highest number of species with Hidalgo and Tamaulipas, and the least number of species with Nuevo León. In San Luis Potosí, there are several taxa of particular conservation concern including salamanders, emydid and trionychid turtles, anguid and xenosaurid lizards, and natricid and colubrid snakes.
“…It is likely that this reflects the more arid nature of Tamaulipas and Nuevo León (i.e., Chihuahuan Desert), compared to the more mountainous Querétaro and Hidalgo. Thus, the numbers and types of shared species among San Luis Potosí and its neighboring states reflects the pattern of habitat and vegetation types found in each neighboring state (see also Smith and Lemos-Espinal 2015 , Lemos-Espinal and Smith 2016 , Lemos-Espinal et al 2017 ). However, the results of the cluster analysis are somewhat different.…”
A summary of the species of amphibians and reptiles of the state has been compiled, including their geographic distributions, habitats, and conservation statuses. The herpetofauna of San Luis Potosí consists of 41 species of amphibians and 141 species of reptiles. San Luis Potosí shares the highest number of species with Hidalgo and Tamaulipas, and the least number of species with Nuevo León. In San Luis Potosí, there are several taxa of particular conservation concern including salamanders, emydid and trionychid turtles, anguid and xenosaurid lizards, and natricid and colubrid snakes.
“…Such a pattern likely reflects the fact that Durango, Chihuahua, and Coahuila all have extensive tracts of Chihuahuan Desert habitats. Similarities and differences in species among Durango and its neighboring states likely is the result of the habitats and vegetation types found in each state (see also Smith and Lemos-Espinal 2015 , Lemos-Espinal and Smith 2016 , Lemos-Espinal et al 2017 ). Such results suggest that the conservation of the herpetofauna of this region will need habitat specific conservation plans that cross state borders and will require integration of state, regional, and country-level efforts.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 98%
“…In addition, the conservation status of each species was recorded based on three sources: 1) the IUCN Red List 2017 ; 2) Environmental Viability Scores from Wilson et al (2013a , b ); 3) listing in SEMARNAT (2010) . The following state lists were used to compare the species composition between Durango and the adjoining states: Chihuahua, Lemos-Espinal et al (2017) ; Sinaloa, Enderson et al (2009) ; Nayarit, Woolrich-Piña et al (2016) ; and Coahuila, Lemos-Espinal and Smith (2016) . The lists were updated for Chihuahua (adding P. ornatissimum (Girard), Montanucci 2015 ); for Chihuahua and Coahuila (substituting Sceloporus consobrinus Baird & Girard for S. cowlesi Lowe & Norris, A. Leache, personal communication, April 2017); and for Sinaloa (adding Gopherus evgoodei , Edwards et al 2016 ).…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…It is in Durango that the Sierra Madre Occidental and Oriental come closest in Mexico, the western most branch of the Sierra Madre Oriental in eastern Durango is also home of a unique assemblage of lizard species such as Sceloporus maculosus (Northern Snub-nosed Spiny Lizard), Xantusia bolsonae (Bolson Night Lizard), and X. extorris (Durango Night Lizard) ( Lemos-Espinal et al 2017 ; Valdez-Lares et al 2013 ).…”
A summary of the species of amphibians and reptiles of Durango, as well as their geographic distributions, habitat, and conservation status have been compiled. The herpetofauna of Durango consists of 36 species of amphibians and 120 species of reptiles. Durango shares the most species with Chihuahua (74.0%), and shares fewer species with Sinaloa (48.0%), Nayarit (48.7%), and Coahuila (48.0%). Arid-semiarid and Sierras habitat types have the most species, with valleys and Quebradas habitat types having fewer species. In Durango, there are several taxa of particular conservation concern including eleutherodactylid frogs, eublepharid, iguanid, phrynosomatid, and xantusid lizards, boid, colubrid, and natricid snakes, and emydid and testudinid turtles.
“…1Current distribution of extant Uma clades and locality of the fossil (red star). The geographic distribution information was compiled from Stebbins [30], Gottscho et al [32], iNaturalist [33], Williams et al [34], Lemos Espinal and Smith [35], and Lemos Espinal and Smith [36]Fig. 2Right lateral views of Uma notata , scale bars = 1 mm.…”
Background
Fossil evidence suggests that extant North American lizard genera (north of Mexico) evolved during the Miocene. Although fossils of the clade Phrynosomatidae (spiny lizards and sand lizards) have been reported, there have been no previously described fossils of the fringe-toed sand lizards (
Uma
). In the extant biota,
Uma
inhabit arid deserts, and members of the western clade of
Uma
are restricted to sand dunes or other habitats containing fine-grained sand.
Results
I describe the first known fossil of
Uma
and refer the fossil to the total clade of
Uma
with an apomorphy-based diagnosis. The fossil is a partial premaxilla that was found in the Miocene strata of the Dove Spring Formation of southern California, dating to 8.77 Ma. The paleoenvironment of the Dove Spring Formation was semiarid and contained ephemeral streams that facilitated deposition, and there is no evidence of sand dune deposits in the strata containing the locality from which the
Uma
fossil was found. Divergence time analyses of a concatenated molecular dataset with four fossil calibrations support a Neogene origin of the total clade of
Uma
and of the crown clade of
Uma
. Those analyses also estimated a Neogene divergence between
Uma scoparia
and the
Uma notata
complex. Multispecies coalescent analyses with one fossil calibration inferred a Paleogene origin for the total clade of
Uma
and a Pliocene or Pleistocene divergence between
Uma scoparia
and the
Uma notata
complex. The fossil and the total and crown clades of
Uma
precede the evolution of modern desert ecosystems in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico by millions of years.
Conclusions
The total clade and the crown clade of
Uma
were not restricted to arid deserts throughout their evolutionary histories. I demonstrate that an apomorphy-based diagnosis can be used to identify fossils of isolated skeletal elements for at least one clade of phrynosomatid lizard, and suggest exercising caution when using environmental tolerances of extant taxa to hypothesize paleoecological reconstructions.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1186/s12862-019-1501-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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