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Herpetology Notes, volume 8: 575-577 (2015) (published online on 06 December 2015)

Distribution extension and ecology notes of endemic lizard


Stenocercus bolivarensis Castro & Ayala, 1982
(Squamata: Tropiduridae)

Juan Camilo Mantilla1,* and John Harold Castao2

Stenocercus bolivarensis Castro & Ayala, 1982, family of the species for the department of Risaralda (Fig. 1).
Tropiduridae is an Andean lizard endemic to Colombia, On July 17, 2014 at 13:00, an adult male was collected
their presence is only confirmed in the surroundings of (CUS-R 0075) and photographed (Fig. 2C) in the
the town of Bolivar, department of Cauca (type locality) bathroom of the library of the University of Santa Rosa
between 1650 and 1750 m (Castro & Ayala, 1982), de Cabal - UNISARC, Vereda El Jazmn, municipality
being along with S. guentheri, the only Stenocercus of Santa Rosa de Cabal (4.9119444 N; - 75.6238889 W,
species present in the Cordillera Central (Castro & 1631m asl). In the same locality another specimen was
Granados, 1993). According to the morphological and photographed (Fig. 2A) but not collected on July 11,
molecular characters, it is closely related to S. carrioni, 2014 at 7:00 pm and a dead and deteriorated juvenile
S. humeralis, S. simonsii, S. varius and S. haenschi, was found on March 31, 2015 (CUS-R 0079). In
all these restricted to Andean distribution between addition, in June 21, 2014 at 21:05 we photographed a
southern Ecuador and southern Colombia (Torres- fourth specimen that was in the bathroom of the School
Carvajal, 2009). S. bolivarensis is recognized because
it is the only one who has lateral scales strongly keeled
and imbricated (Torres-Carvajal, 2007).
Vanegas et al. (Vanegas et al., 2015) recently recorded
a S. bolivarensis on the campus of the University of
Quindio in the town of Armenia, Quindio, at 1480
m elevation. In this paper, we present four additional
records, representing the northernmost distribution in the
Cordillera Central, extending 370 km range distribution
respect to the type locality and 44 km from the findings
of Vanegas et al. (In press), also this are the first records

1
Semillero de investigacin en anfibios y reptiles, Grupo
de investigacin en Biologa de la Conservacin y
Biotecnologa, Universidad Santa Rosa de Cabal-UNISARC,
Km 4 va Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda, Colombia.
2
Grupo de investigacin en Biologa de la Conservacin Figure. 1. Presence of de S. bolivarensis in the Cordillera
y Biotecnologa, Director centro de Investigaciones, Central of Colombia. Red dots correspond to records in the
Universidad Santa Rosa de Cabal-UNISARC, Km 4 va Department of Risaralda; blue triangle to record in Quindo
Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda, Colombia. and violet triangle corresponds to the type locality in the
* Corresponding author e-mail: camilophidio19@gmail.com Department of Cauca.
576 Juan Camilo Mantilla & John Harold Castao

Figure 2. S. bolivarensis recorded in Risaralda. A and C: specimens found in UNISARC; B: specimen found in Vereda
Yarumal.

in Vereda Yarumal (4.721290 N, -75.677417 W, 1657 Heteroptera; Hymenoptera: pos. Formicidae;


m), municipality of Pereira (Fig. 1,Fig. 2B). Both Coleoptera: pos. Curculionidae, and Arachnida:
places are characterized by rural landscapes, presenting Araneae. These findings match the diet found in other
a mosaic of grassland areas, stubbles and small forest species of the Tropiduridae family, among which are S.
fragments. santander (Daza & Castillo, 2011), S. modestus (Prez
Other Stenocercus species have been recorded in et al., 2012), Tropidurus torquatus (De Caravalho et al.,
disturbed areas, e.g. S. modestus (Prez et al., 2012), 2007) and T. oreadicus (Rocha & Seiqueira, 2008).
S. limitaris, S. latebrosus, S. stigmosus (Cadle, 1998), S. bolivarensis seems to be endemic to the Colombian
S. trachycephalus (Corts-Suarez, 2011) S. guentheri, Central Cordillera, feeds on arthropods, and habits
S. cadlei, S. festae, S. chota and S. varius (Torres- human constructions and open rural areas.
Carvajal, com. pers). The presence of these reptiles in
disturbed places probably improves their food supply
and temperature regulation places (Suazo-Ortuo et al.,
Acknowledgements. To Paula Castao and Clara Isaza Gmez,
2008). who found the lizards in UNISARC. To Shirley Palacios Castro
The excrement of CUS-R 0075 was composed by for the identification of arthropods and Omar Torres Carvajal by
parts of the following groups of arthropods: Hemiptera: review and contribution of additional information.
Distribution extension and ecology notes of endemic lizard Stenocercus bolivarensis 577
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Accepted by Robson vila

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