ISSN 1827-9635 (print) © Firenze University Press ISSN 1827-9643 (online) www.fupress.com/ah Acta Herpetologica 8(2): 159-162, 2013 A revised geographical range for Liolaemus elongatus Koslowsky, 1896 (Squamata: Liolaemini) in Argentina: review of reported and new-data based distribution with new localities Ignacio Minoli1, Cintia D. Medina1, Nicolás Frutos2, Mariana Morando1, Luciano J. Avila1,* 1 Grupo de Herpetología Patagónica, CENPAT-CONICET, Boul. Almt. G. Brown 2915, U9120ACD, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argen- tina. * Corresponding author. E-mail: avila@cenpat.edu.ar 2Cátedra Fundamentos Básicos de Cartografía e Introducción a SIG – Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades – Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Ciudad Universitaria. Córdoba, Argentina Submitted on 2013, 25th April; revised on 2013, 6th June; accepted on 2013, 3rd October. Abstract. Estimating the effective geographical ranges of species is central to species-oriented conservation and man- agement. In this paper, we review the geographical distribution of Liolaemus elongatus Koslowsky, 1896 with three new records for northern Chubut and southern Río Negro provinces, Argentina. Based on detailed locality records pooled from multiple data sources, including new records obtained for this study, we revise the range of L. elongatus sensu stricto and provide geographical distribution maps comparing the previously recognized range to that proposed herein. Our results show that L. elongatus possesses a much more limited geographic distribution than previously thought, being restricted to areas south of 38°S latitude; the newly proposed range is merely half the species formerly recognized geographical distribution. Keywords. Lizards, Geographical range size, Liolaemus, Biogeography, Patagonia, Argentina. The accurate estimation of the geographical range of a species is central to species-oriented conservation policy. Nevertheless, species occurrence data are often biased, due to their opportunistic origin (Newbold, 2010): in fact, they tend to be pooled around specific are- as depending on the nature of collecting campaigns and/ or the accessibility of sampled areas (Katzner et al., 2011; Feeley and Silman, 2011). In this general context, when widespread and diverse taxa are involved (e.g., Liola- emidae; Pincheira-Donoso et al., 2008), the combination of a large sampling area with the uncertainty of taxo- nomic assignments may lead to possible overestimation or underestimation of the real distribution of the species under investigation, with obvious drawbacks, not only from the conservation point of view. The genus Liolaemus may be a good example of such a problem. Liolaemus is a South American genus of lizards with more than 230 described species (Breitman et al., 2011; Abdala et al., 2012), some of which are widely distrib- uted in Argentina. Whereas recent work has resulted in changes in the systematic status of several Liolaemus spe- cies (e.g., Abdala et al., 2012; Avila et al., 2012), herpe- tologists have not adequately updated species geographi- cal distributions. One such lizard is Liolaemus elongatus Koslowsky (1896), a viviparous, insectivorous, medi- um-sized lizard (85 mm maximum snout-vent length, SVL) which typically inhabits rocky outcrops of western Patagonia steppe environments (Cei, 1986). Liolaemus elongatus was originally described from rocky outcrops of western Chubut (“…el territorio del Chubut, cerca de las Cordilleras, donde vive en las grietas de las rocas…”; Koslowsky, 1896). Since the 1970s, this species has been considered widely distributed over Patagonia, reaching northwestern areas of Argentina including Altoandina 160 Ignacio Minoli et al. environments (Cei, 1974, 1986; Avila and Lobo, 1999; Avila et al., 2000). Phylogeographical analyses showed that southern- most populations from the Agrio River Basin (Neu- quén Province) are genetically clustered and spatially separated from northern populations (Morando et al., 2003). Based on mitochondrial data, some northern L. elongatus populations appear more closely related to the Liolaemus petrophilus complex (Morando et al., 2003), while others, although being closely related to L. elon- gatus, maintain some degree of difference (Medina pers. comm.). Several of the northernmost populations con- sidered by Morando et al. (2003) to represent new can- didate species were later described as new species (e.g., L. parvus and L. tulkas; Quinteros, et al., 2008; L. smaug and L. choique; Abdala et al., 2012; L. burmeisteri; Avila et al., 2012). However, the knowledge of the geographi- cal distribution of L. elongatus and related taxa remains fragmented and a detailed review of the geographical range of these species is lacking. This, along with other unknown aspects of the natural history of Liolaemus elongatus, led Avila et al. (2000) to consider its conser- vation status as “insufficiently known”. Here, we evaluate the reported distribution of L. elongatus by reviewing all populations previously allocated to this species and com- paring them with new geographical records of popula- tions allocated to L. elongatus sensu stricto (Morando et al., 2003; Medina pers. comm.) in the Río Negro, Chubut and southern Neuquén provinces. Between February 1998 and March 2010, we collect- ed specimens of Liolaemus elongatus by hand, snooze or forked stick, following visual survey from a vehicle along unpaved roads or walking transects. We recorded lati- tude, longitude and elevation for each locality, as deter- mined by a Garmin GPS 12™ Global Position Device. Taxonomic identity was established for each collected specimen based on morphological analyses with a clas- sical morphological approach (using scale counts, mor- phometry, and color pattern), taking into consideration the original species description of Liolaemus elongatus Koslowsky 1896 and comparison with syntypes depos- ited in Museo de La Plata collection (Ferraro and Wil- liams, 2006). Additionally, results of phylogeographic studies based on three mitochondrial genes (Morando et al., 2003) and two mitochondrial and four nuclear genes (Medina pers. comm.) were also considered for taxa identification. After capture, lizards were euthanized by a pericardial injection of sodium thiopenthotal Pen- tovet®, fixed in 10-20% formalin and later transferred to 70% ethanol (Simmons, 2002). Voucher specimens from these collections were deposited in the herpetological col- lection (LJAMM-CNP; http://www.cenpat.edu.ar/colec- ciones03.html) located in Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT-CONICET), Puerto Madryn, Argentina. We followed animal handling procedures suggested by Sim- mons (2002) and in agreement with regulations detailed in the Argentinean National law #14346. Each provincial fauna authority regulates collection permits, which are included in acknowledgments. We made updated geographical range maps based on LJAMM-CNP collections records and a review of museum and literature data associated with vouchered specimens, in order to compare our new records with the distribution previously reported for this species. Using the results of phylogeographic and phylogenetic studies (Morando et al., 2003; Avila et al., 2004; Medina pers. comm.), morphological comparisons of sampled specimens with syntypes, and results of ongoing mor- phological studies to establish species limits (Medina, pers. comm.), we considered as Liolaemus elongatus sensu stricto all records located south of 38°S latitude. We geo- referenced all records for L. elongatus obtained from pub- lished studies without geographical coordinates, but with an accurate locality description. All records in the result- ing database were mapped using the program gvSIG® ver- sion 1.11. From our review of published literature and museum data, we obtained 202 records distributed in 70 locali- ties of Liolaemus elongatus (Fig. 1A; Suppl. Mat. Table T1 and Appendix A1). This set of data points supported a wide geographical range for this species, spanning from southern Catamarca Province southward along a narrow strip limited to the Andes Mountains of Neuquén Prov- ince, through Río Negro, and continuing south of Chubut Province (Cei, 1974, 1986; Avila and Lobo, 1999; Scolaro, 2005). The database obtained from our collection cam- paigns, consisted on 294 records from 75 localities (Fig. 1B; Suppl. Mat. Table T1 and Appendix A1). Three locali- ties included in the 25 de Mayo Department (Río Negro Province) and Telsen Department (Chubut Province) rep- resent new geographic records; in detail: five specimens (LJAMM-CNP 6227-6228, 6235-6237) from Provincial Route 5, 22 km NW El Cain (41°35’48.9” S, 68°22’11.3” W; 1165 m a.s.l.), 25 de Mayo Department; three indi- viduals (LJAMM-CNP 10974-6) from Provincial Route 67, 11.2 km S Río Negro-Chubut border (42°04’34.45” S, 68°09’43.11” W; 1407 m a.s.l.); one specimen captured (LJAMM-CNP 7514) from Provincial Route 67, on the road to Talagapa, 53.1 km N of Gan Gan City (42º13’50.8” S, 68º14’23.8” W; 1402 m a.s.l.), Telsen Department. By reviewing distributional data available for Liolae- mus elongatus from previous systematic studies, and add- ing localities from recent phylogeography studies as well as new records from recent field collections, our results 161Liolaemus elongatus geographical range allows redefining the geographical distribution of L. elongatus in Argentina. The geographical range assigned by previous publications for this species covers a much broader area than that supported by our data. Since the 1970s, L. elongatus was thought to range from Catama- rca Province (Avila and Lobo, 1999; Avila et al., 2000) to southern Chubut Province (Cei 1974, 1986). In contrast, our results show that the current distribution of L. elon- gatus sensu stricto ranges from south of Agrio River Basin (Neuquén) to southern Chubut province and includes several new sites providing a more detailed description of the distribution of the species within Neuquén, Río Negro and Chubut (Fig. 1B). The updated range is only one-half of the species formerly recognized geographical distribution. This discrepancy is partly due to the taxo- nomic review of the species assignments, and partly due to the discovery of new occurrence sites. Indeed, records from new localities represent the easternmost geographi- cal points for this species, respectively located (straight line distance) at about 79 km, 93 km and 92 km from the closest known populations of Sierra Añueque (Cei, 1986; Cei and Avila, 1998; Fig. 1B). These records are particu- larly significant, because they represent the first ones about this species from the Somuncurá Plateau and relat- ed volcanic outcrops. Precise geographical distribution studies are impor- tant (Feeley and Silman, 2011) as they provide basic information for systematic (Debandi et al., 2011), bio- geographic (Corbalán and Debandi, 2008; Vera-Escalo- na et al., 2010) and conservation (Corbalán et al., 2011; Katzner et al., 2011) studies. Recently, analyses of muse- um-based collections data demonstrated numerous cases of lizard population extinctions worldwide (Sinervo et al., 2010). The information presented in the present study will make a useful contribution to similar broad-scale analyses in the future and should facilitate more rapid development of conservation plans for L. elongatus, if necessary. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank C. H. F. Pérez, M. F. Breitman, M. Kozykaris- ki, N. Feltrin for field support. We also thank J. C. Bagley and M. F. Breitman for reviewing this manuscript. We thank Fund- ing for field work were provided by NSF-PIRE (OISE 0530267, issued to J. Johnson), and several grants from CONICET and FONCYT (issued to M. Morando and L. J. Avila). We thank the authorities from Neuquén (160/07; 1028/09; 0154/10; 0155/11), Río Negro (74071-DF-2005) and Chubut (06530/11; 02304/12) provinces for collection permits. 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(2010): Historical and current dis- tribution of the lizard Liolaemus pictus (Dumeril & Bibron 1837) (Liolaemidae) and new continental southern limit of distribution. Gayana 74: 139-146. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL Table T1. Summary of georeferenced locality records for Liolaemus elongatus. Appendix A1. Detailed localities of all the records obtained for Liolaemus elongatus.