New records of Leiosaurus jaguarislASPiuR, ACOSTA & ABDAlA, 2007,

extend the known distribution in the Argentine Precordillera

The iguanian lizard genus LeiosaurusDuMRil & BiBRON, 1837 is distributed inArgentina, Brazil and Paraguay and current-ly includes four recognized species thatoccupy a variety of environments across thephytogeographic regions of Monte, Chacoand Patagonian steppe (CEi, 1993). Threespecies, L. belli DuMRil & BiBRON, 1837,L. catamarcensis kOSlOWSky, 1898 and L.paronae (PERACCA, 1897), are widely dis-tributed, covering a continuous range (gAl -lARDO 1961), whereas L. jaguaris lASPiuR,ACOSTA & ABDAlA, 2007, has a more re -stricted distribution. Leiosaurus jaguariswas described based upon individuals col-lected in middle-altitude areas (1,500-2,500

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m a.s.l.) in semiarid shrublands of thePrecordillera of the Provinces of San Juanand la Rioja. This medium to large-sizedlizard (male and female mean snout-vent-length [Svl] about 90 mm) lacks sexualdichromatism and exhibits a particular col-oration pattern resembling the jaguar (Pan -thera onca), from which it takes its specificname. The known distribution comprisedfour localities: the type locality (gualcama -yo, Jchal Deparment, San Juan Province,Argentina), another one in an adjacent areain the Province of San Juan, plus two north-ern records in the Province of la Rioja(lASPiuR et al. 2007). Here, the authors re -port four new localities for L. jaguaris,which extend the known distribution range,and provide an updated map of geographicaldistribution.

The new records were obtained duringfield surveys in mountain areas in the Pro -vinces of San Juan and la Rioja between2006 and 2011. lizards were collected byhand or noose and coordinates of each local-ity were recorded using the gPS devicegarmin gPSMap 2 Series (WgS84 datum).After capture, the lizards were killed byintraperitoneal injection of 0.5 ml 30 %sodium pentobarbital (Euthanyle, Argen -tina) and deposited at the herpetological col-lection of universidad Nacional de San Juan(uNSJ). in addition, specimens depositedat the herpetological collections of Museode Ciencias Naturales, universidad Nacio -nal de Salta (MCN) and Museo Argentinode Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivada -via (MACN) were examined.

A juvenile individual (Svl: ~60 mm;uNSJ-F 16 [photo voucher]; Fig. 1) wasobserved at quebrada Agua de las Burras,Sierra de la Deheza, ullum department,Province of San Juan (312222.07S,684944.26W, 1,590 m a.s.l.) at 16:30 h,on 4 January, 2006. The lizard sighted shel-tered beneath a shrub (Bulnesia retama); itwas photographed and, despite the proximi-ty of the photographer, did not behave timid(ROquE TROZZO pers. obs.). unfortunatelyit was not collected. This constitutes thesouthernmost record for this species in SanJuan, extends the distribution of L. jaguaris171 km south (straight line) from the typelocality (Fig. 2), and is the first juvenilereported for the species.

Another individual was recorded onNational Route 76, 13 km east of AltoJage, between las Chacritas and west ofAlto Jage, general lamadrid Department,Province of la Rioja (284022.3S, 683528.4W, 2,371 m a.s.l.). The specimen isan adult male (Svl: 98 mm; uNSJ 31) thatwas found on bare dry soils and collectedfrom the crevices of large fragmented rocksnear dwarf shrubs (Prosopis alpataco). Thelocality herein reported is 130 km north ofthe type locality and this site is adjacent tothe locations where 12 paratypes were col-lected (lASPiuR et al. 2007) (Fig. 2).

Two additional specimens in the MCNherpetological collection extend the knownrange 12.5 km to the north and 1.4 km southof the type locality, respectively (Fig. 2).One is an adult female (Svl = 111 mm;MCN 4067), collected from Estancia Abragrande, Sierra de El Overito, 5.8 km southof the Provincia de Entre Ros School,gualcamayo, Jchal Department, Provinceof San Juan (295032.31S, 684540.50W, 2,494 m a.s.l.). The other is an adult fe -male (Svl: 103 mm; MCN 4068), collectedfrom Estancia de Abra grande, Sierra de ElOverito, 32.5 km south of Jchal Depart -

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Fig. 1: Juvenile of Leiosaurus jaguarislASPiuR, ACOSTA & ABDAlA, 2007

(uNSJ-F 16 [Photo voucher]) from Sierra de la Deheza (ullum Department,

Province of San Juan, Argentina).

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ment, Province of San Juan (294326.11S,68486.04W, 2,285 m a.s.l.). Both lizardswere found near the road in the afternoonbetween 19:00-21:30 h.

A distribution map of Leiosaurus wasprovided by lASPiuR et al. (2007), and arecent publication on the conservation statusof the lizard species from Argentina (AB -DAlA et al. 2012) mention vaguely the dis-tribution of L. jaguaris in the Provinces ofla Rioja and San Juan. With the new datareported here, the known distribution rangeof L. jaguaris covers a zone 306 km longfrom north to south between 2936S and3122S, along the Precordillera in the Pro -vinces of la Rioja and San Juan.

Current evidence suggests that therange of L. jaguaris could be restricted tothe Precordillera mountain system. Thisextra-Andean orogenic system is locatedbetween the Cordillera Frontal and theSierras Pampeanas, and is limited to the eastand west by two extensive longitudinal val-leys (FuRquE & CuERDA 1979). Biogeo -

graphically, the Precordillera is composedof three phytogeographic provinces (Puna,Prepuna and Monte), differentiated by alti-tude (ROig et al. 2003). Overall, thePrecordillera is surrounded by Monte;although on the eastern slope, from 1,500 mto about 2,500 m a.s.l, the Monte elementsare mixed with those of Prepuna (MARTNEZCARRETERO 1995). Accordingly, all theobservations of L. jaguaris stem from theeastern slope of the Precordillera within theMonte-Prepuna elevation range, suggestingthat the species prefers these transitionalareas.

The southernmost record reportedhere (la Deheza, ullum department, SanJuan) suggests that the species may occureven farther south, corresponding to thesouthern limit of the Precordillera, close tothe Province of Mendoza. FuRquE & Cu -ERDA (1979) indicated that the northernboundary of the Precodillera is poorly de -fined which asks for a more detailed studyof the specimens collected from Finca

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Fig. 2: Distribution of Leiosaurus jaguaris lASPiuR, ACOSTA & ABDAlA, 2007, with known (data from lASPiuR et al. 2007) and new (this study, MCN) Argentine records.

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Ascha, Province of la Rioja (MACN10814-16). Of this sample, two juvenileswere assigned to L. catamarcensis, whereasthe allocation of an adult specimen isunclear (S. NENDA, pers. comm.). FincaAscha may refer to a location near the low-lands of the Sierra de velasco, located to theeast of the northern Precordillera, Provinceof la Rioja, where L. catamarcensis wascollected (see Ap pendix 1 in lASPiuR et al.2007).

ACkNOWlEDgMENTS: The authors extend theirgratitude to Roque TROZZO, who generously shared hisobservations of the southernmost individual, AdrianaBRACCO, for her valuable comments during manuscriptpreparation, Cristian ABDAlA, Romina SEMHAN andJos luis ACOSTA for their help during field trips,Fernando lOBO for allowing the study of individuals ofLeio saurus in the MCN collection, S. NENDA and J.FAivO viCH (MACN) for their assistance during labresearch, Jorgelina BRASCA for the English review andhelpful comments that improved this work. We areespecially grateful to S. NENDA for the opinion aboutthe geographic locations of Leiosaurus in la Rioja,Pablo MEgliOli for providing the identification of theProso pis species and Secretaria de Medio Ambiente ofthe Provinces of San Juan and la Rioja for collectionpermits. This work was developed by a grant from theConsejo de investigaciones Cientficas y Tcnicas(CONiCET) Argentina, a grant and Proyecto Jvenesinvestigadores, universidad Nacional de San Juan.

REFERENCES: ABDAlA, C.S. & ACOSTA, J. C.& ACOSTA, J. l. & AlvAREZ, B. & ARiAS, F. & vilA,l. & BlANCO, g. & BONiNO, M. & BORETTO, J. &BRANCATElli, g. & BREiTMAN, M. F. & CABRERA, M. &CAiRO, S. & CORBAlN, v. & HERNANDO, A. &iBARgENgOyTA, N. & kACOliRiS, F. & lASPiuR, A. &MONTERO, R. & MORANDO, M. & PEllEgRiN, N. &PEREZ, C. H. F. & quiNTEROS, S. & SEMHAN, R. &TEDESCO, M. E. & vEgA, l. & ZAlBA, S. M. (2012):Categorizacin del estado de conservacin de los lagar-tos de la Repblica Argentina.- Cuadernos de Herpeto -loga, Jujuy; 26: 215-248. CEi, J. M. (1993): Reptilesdel noroeste, nordeste y este de la Argentina. Mono -grafa Xiv, Torino (Museo Regionale di Scienze Natu -rali), pp. 945. DuMRil, A. M. C. & BiBRON, g. (1837):Erptologie gnrale ou Histoire Naturelle Compltedes Reptiles. Tome quatrime, Paris (Encyclopdiquede Roret), pp. 571. FuRquE, g. & CuERDA, A. J.(1979): Precordillera de la Rioja, San Juan y Men -doza; pp. 455-522. in: TuRNER, J. C. M. (Ed.): geo -loga regional argentina. Academia Nacional deCiencias, Crdoba. gAllARDO, J. M. (1961): Estudiozoogeogrfico del gnero Leiosaurus (Reptilia,Sauria).- Physis, Buenos Aires; 12: 113-118. lASPiuR,A. & ACOSTA, J. C. & ABDAlA, C. S. (2007): A newspecies of Leiosaurus (iguania: leiosauridae) fromcentral-western Argentina.- Zootaxa, Auckland; 1470:47-57. MARTNEZ CARRETERO, E. (1995): la PunaArgentina: Delimitacin general y divisin en distritosflorsticos.- Boletn de la Sociedad Argentina deBotnica, Buenos Aires; 31: 27-40. ROig-JuENT, S. &FlORES, g. E. & MATTONi, C. (2003): Consideracionesbiogeogrficas de la Precordillera (Argentina), con

base en artrpodos epgeos; pp. 275-288. in: MORRONE,J. J. & llORENTE BOuSquETS, J. (Eds.): una perspecti-va latinoamericana de la Biogeografa; Mxico (lasPrensas de Ciencias, uNAM).

kEy WORDS: Reptilia: Squamata: iguania:leiosauridae: Leiosaurus jaguaris, distribution, newrecords, Precordillera, San Juan, Argentina.

SuBMiTTED: October 16, 2013AuTHORS: Alejandro lASPiuR, (correspond-

ing author < laspiursaurus@gmail.com >) - CigEO-BiO-CONiCET, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Fsicasy Naturales, universidad de San Juan. Av. Jos i. de laRoza 590 Oeste. J5402DCS. San Juan, Argentina; JuanCarlos ACOSTA - Departamento de Biologa, Facultadde Ciencias Exactas, Fsicas y Naturales, universidadNacional de San Juan. Av. Jos i. de la Roza 590 Oeste.J5402DCS. San Juan, Argentina < jcacostasanjuan@gmail.com >

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