Anolis cyanophthalmus, Marín & Bocanumenth & Daza, 2025

Marín, Carlos M., Bocanumenth, Daniel & Daza, Juan M., 2025, The colorful giants: Revisiting the systematics of the Anolis latifrons series (Squamata: Anolidae), Vertebrate Zoology 75, pp. 441-457 : 441-457

Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov.

Figures 5 , 6 , 7 A – C ; Table 1

Chresonymy.

Anolis danieli Anorí , Anolis danieli “ anori ” – Velasco and Hoyos (2010), pp. 206, 207, figs 1, 3 B

Anolis danieli – Castañeda and de Queiroz (2011), p. 797, table 1 [ MHUA 11564, MHUA 11567]

Anolis danieli – Batista et al. (2015), p. 71, fig. 7 [ MHUA 11564, MHUA 11567]

Anolis danieli – Poe et al. (2017), p. 668, fig. 1

Anolis danieli – Prates et al. (2017), p. 52, fig. 2 [ MHUA 11564]

Anolis danieli – Torres-Carvajal et al. (2017), p. 3, table 1 [ MHUA 11564, MHUA 11567]

Anolis danieli – Prates et al. (2020), p. 6, fig. 3 [ MHUA 11564]

Anolis danieli – Ayala-Varela et al. (2021), p. 310, fig. 9 [ MHUA 11564, MHUA 11567]

Holotype (Fig. 6 ).

COLOMBIA • 1 ♂, adult, with hemipenis in a separate vial; Department of Antioquia, municipality of Yarumal, Vereda El Rosario, Natural Reserve El Reposo ; 7.062, –75.404; 1570 m a. s. l.; 30 Sep. 2018; Mauricio Rivera-Correa leg.; MHUA - R 13757 .

Paratypes.

COLOMBIA • 1 ♂, juvenile; Department of Antioquia, municipality of San Rafael, Vereda Cirpes, Central Hidroeléctrica Peñol-Guatapé ; 6.277, –75.144; 1830 m a. s. l.; 14 Oct. 2023; Carlos M. Marín & Daniel Bocanumenth leg.; MHUA - R 15831 . • 1 juvenile; same locality as for preceding; 6.2750, –75.1453; 1905 m a. s. l.; 17 Oct. 2023; Carlos M. Marín & Daniel Bocanumenth leg.; MHUA - R 15833 . • 2 ♀, adult; Department of Antioquia, municipality of Anorí, Vereda El Roble, Finca El Chaquiral ; 6.981, –75.136; 1725 m a. s. l.; 2003; Paul D. Gutiérrez leg.; MHUA - R 11008 , MHUA - R 11289 . • 1 ♂, adult, with hemipenis in a separate vial; Department of Antioquia, municipality of Anorí, Vereda Cañada Honda, Quebrada La Soledad ; 7.005, –75.146; 1640 m a. s. l.; 7 Jan. 2004; Paul D. Gutiérrez leg.; MHUA - R 11293 . • 1 ♀, adult; same locality as for preceding; MHUA - R 11302 . • 1 ♀, juvenile; Department of Antioquia, municipality of Anorí, Vereda Cañada Honda ; 7.005, –75.146; 1666 m a. s. l.; 2–5 Jan. 2007; Paul D. Gutiérrez leg.; MHUA - R 11564 . • 4 ♀, adults; same locality as for preceding; MHUA - R 11565 , MHUA - R 11567 , MHUA - R 1570 to 1571 . • 2 ♀, adults; Department of Antioquia, municipality of Anorí, Vereda El Nevado ; 6.992, –75.119; 1650 m a. s. l.; 6 Jan. 2007; Laura Bravo leg.; MHUA - R 11594 to 11595 . • 1 ♂, juvenile; Department of Antioquia, municipality of Anorí, Vereda El Retiro, Finca El Chaquiral ; 6.979, –75.129; 1768 m a. s. l.; 13 Jun. 2015; JMD leg.; MHUA - R 12834 . • 1 ♂, juvenile; Department of Antioquia, municipality of Yarumal, Vereda El Rosario, Natural Reserve El Reposo ; 7.062, –75.404; 1570 m a. s. l.; 30 Sep. 2018; Mauricio Rivera-Correa leg.; MHUA - R 13756 .

Diagnosis.

We assign Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. to the Dactyloa clade within Anolis based on our phylogenetic results. Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. differs from species in the punctatus and heterodermus series ( Castañeda and de Queiroz 2011) by having smaller head scales; from species in the nasofrontalis and roquet series ( Poe et al. 2017; Prates et al. 2020) by having supraorbital semicircles separated from each other and the interparietal separated from the supraorbital semicircles; and from species in the aequatorialis series ( Castañeda and de Queiroz 2011; Prates et al. 2020) by having wider toepads and larger dorsal head scales.

Description of holotype ( paratypes variation in parentheses).

Frontal depression present; head dorsal scales small, rugose to keeled in the nasal and frontal region; rugose to keeled internasals; deep parietal depression; parietal region with juxtaposed, mostly hexagonal scales; postrostrals six (5–9); supraorbitals larger than adjacent scales, polygonal, smooth to rugose (smooth to keeled), and separated by two (0–2) scales from supraorbital semicircles; some enlarged and keeled scales in the supraocular disc, the remaining smooth; scales between interparietal and supraorbital semicircles heterogeneous in size; interparietal longer than wide, slightly rectangular, much larger than adjacent scales, smaller than ear opening, and separated by four small scales from supraorbital semicircles (3–6); parietal scales slightly rugose; canthals keeled; circumnasal rounded; prenasal single contacting two rostral scales (lower prenasal in MHUA -R: 11293, 11302, 11564, 11567, 11570, 11594, 12834, 15833); canthal scales ten (8–11); anterior canthals contacting circumnasals; scales between second canthals twelve (9–14); loreal rows eight (6–8), keeled, upper contacting the first and second canthals; three suboculars in broad contact with the supralabials, no scales rows between suboculars and supralabials; temporals small and granular; supralabials to the center of the eye eight (8–10); ear opening oval-shaped, surrounded by small granular scales; anterior edge of rostral ventrally visible; mental semicircular, concave and divided; infralabials in eight rows; sublabial scales not enlarged; postmentals eight (6–9).

Trunk.

Middorsal and paravertebral scales are small and keeled, and slightly larger than flanking scales, which are granular and separated by small skin interspaces; ventral scales smooth and imbricate, with rounded posterior margins and larger than dorsal scales; groin, axilla and neck covered by granular scales; nuchal and dorsal folds present in males, absent in females; two enlarged postanal scales in males, absent in females.

Limbs.

Fore and hind limbs with keeled scales; hind limbs robust, 1.6 times longer than forelimbs; fourth toe lamellae under phalanges II – III 27 (22–30) and under phalanges II – IV 41 (35–47); cylindrical limbs, with keeled and imbricated scales; anterior part of the arm and elbow with unicarinate scales; thigh with unicarinate scales, knee with strongly keeled scales; ventral scales smooth, imbricate and with rounded posterior margins; tail with keeled scales and three middorsal rows (Fig. 6 ).

Dewlap.

37.74 mm in length and 21.10 mm in height ( paratypes: adult males 41.01 ± 5.72 mm [36.13–50.07] in length, 23.85 ± 8.60 mm [14.44–37.87] in height, n = 3; adult females 20.67 ± 2.25 mm [18.08–23.65] in length, 10.36 ± 1.53 mm [7.92–11.85] in height, n = 5); dewlap extends posteriorly to arms in males and slightly beyond the insertion of the arms in females (Fig. 11); seven longitudinal scale rows (7–9), formed by 3–4 (2–5) pale cream scales and separated by pale cream naked skin in males, and five rows (4–6) formed by 2–4 pale scales and separated by dark brown naked skin in females.

Color in life (Fig. 5 ).

Coloration in life is described based on information gathered from the paratypes MHUA -R 15831 and 15833, both males, the photographs of the holotype (Fig. 7 A ) and specimens from the iNaturalist platform. The head surface is greenish to pale brown with a transverse interorbital yellow band delineated by narrow dark brown lines; superciliary scales are solid yellow; a post-ocular wide band extends to the upper level of the ear opening; a sub-ocular dark brown band extends posteriorly at the level of the postocular band, and a light cream band extends from the posteriormost supralabial scales upward to the loreal region; yellow supralabial scales becomes pale brown posteriorly; gray-bluish bands extending from the infralabials into the gular region; lateral dark green-yellowish blotches in the neck and the anterior region of the arm insertion; a dark brown band extends from the arm insertion to the upper level of the posteriormost supralabial scales; iris blue-grayish; tongue cream; in males, the naked skin of dewlap is pale gray-bluish with cream longitudinal scales rows; in females, the naked skin of the dewlap is dark brown with beige longitudinal scale rows; dorsum cream to greenish with dark brown transverse bands bordered by greenish brown, extending to the flanks and forming an inverted V-shaped pattern; greenish transverse bands in the dorsal surfaces of the arms and legs extending to the fingers and toes where they become narrow; light small dots along the transverse bands in the dorsum and legs but absent in the tail’s bands; transverse dark bands on the first third of the tail’s length, followed by a solid dark coloration in the second third, and a pale greenish solid coloration in the remaining third of the tail; belly and ventral surfaces of the arms and legs cream with small yellow blotches; throat yellowish with small gray-bluish blotches; yellowish mental and infralabial scales; yellowish postcloacal scales and ventral surface of the tail cream yellowish.

Color in preservative (Fig. 6 ).

Head surface pale brown without evident patterns; dorsum pale to dark cream with transverse dark brown bands extending to the flanks and forming an inverted V-shaped pattern, which further extends to the middle region of the tail and the dorsal surfaces of arms and legs (in older specimens, coloration becomes darker). White small dots in the lateral transverse bands on the trunk. The belly is uniformly pale cream, (in older specimens it turns into a pale brown color). The second half of the ventral surface of the tail is dark brown. In males, the naked skin of the dewlap is gray bluish with longitudinal rows of pale brown scales; in females, the naked skin of the dewlaps is dark brown with longitudinal rows of cream scales. The dorsal surface of arms and legs is pale cream without evident marks or patterns, turning into pale brown in older specimens (Fig. 6 ).

Comparisons with other species.

As Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. belongs to the latifrons series, we compared it with the remaining species within this clade. Comparisons were conducted by a detailed revision of the original descriptions and, when possible, by direct examination of museum specimens. Comparing the remaining species of the latifrons series, Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. differs from A. ginaelisae (Lotzkat, Hertz, Bienentreu & Köhler, 2013) and A. microtus Cope, 1871 by having higher number of scales between the second canthals (9–14 in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs 5–9 in A. ginaelisae and 6–9 in microtus ); from A. parilis by having fewer scales between the second canthals (9–14 in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs 17 in A. parilis ); from A. kunayalae , A. mirus and A. latifrons by having fewer scales between supraorbital semicircles (1–3 in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs 4–5 in both A. kunayalae and A. mirus and 3–5 in A. latifrons ); from A. maculigula and A. savagei by having higher number of scales between interparietal and semicircles (3–6 in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs 1–3 in A. maculigula and 1–2 in A. savagei ); from A. purpurescens and A. propinquus by having high number of postmentals (6–9 in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs 1–7 in A. purpurescens and 6 in A. propinquus ); from A. agassizi Stejneger, 1900 by having lower number of lamellae under the phalanges II – III of fourth toe (22–30 in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs 36 in A. agassizi ); from A. ibanezi , A. limon , and A. maia by having higher number of lamellae under the phalanges II – III of fourth toe (22–30 in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs 17–19 in A. ibanezi , 20–22 in A. limon and 19–21 in A. maia ); and from both A. danieli and A. frenatus by having smaller body size (mean SVL = 87.2 ± 12.6 mm [males], 69.3 ± 12.4 mm [females] in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs 107.9 ± 10.1 [males], 93.7 ± 7.4 mm [females] in A. danieli and 129.3 ± 2.5 mm [males], 100 ± 8.4 mm [females] in A. frenatus ). A summary of the meristic traits used in the above comparisons is shown in Table 1 . A comparison of color patterns among the species analyzed in this study is shown in Figure 7 .

A species that can potentially be confused with Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. is A. anoriensis Velasco, Gutiérrez-Cárdenas & Quintero-Angel, 2010 . This latter species occurs in the northern region of the Central Cordillera, in the municipalities of Anori and Guatapé ( Marín et al. 2017), making it sympatric with the new species across a large part of its distribution range. However, A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. differs from A. anoriensis in the male dewlap coloration pattern (background pale cream with eight scales rows in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs. background with both yellowish and brown blotches with 5 rows of yellow scales in A. anoriensis ) and in having fewer scales between the second canthals (8–11 in A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. vs. 11–15 in A. anoriensis ).

Etymology.

The specific epithet cyanophthalmus is derived from the Greek kyanos (blue) and ophthalmos (eye) and is used as a latinized adjective referring to the remarkable iris coloration of the new species, which ranges from blue to blue-green hues.

Suggested Common Name.

Colombian blue-eyed anole [English]. Anolis de ojos azules [Spanish]

Distribution and natural history.

Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. inhabits the premontane forests of the northern Central Cordillera in the department of Antioquia, Colombia, at elevations between approximately 1500 and 2000 m a. s. l. (Fig. 1 ). Additionally, there is a photographic record on the iNaturalist platform ( https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/5625949) from the eastern versant of the Central Cordillera in the department of Tolima, Colombia, at 1200 m a. s. l., representing a specimen that we assign to this species. Only two specimens are known from the municipality of Yarumal, collected in 2018, and two additional specimens were recorded during recent fieldwork in the municipality of San Rafael. These two individuals were found perched on bush branches at a height of approximately 1.5 meters. The small number of specimens observed in the Yarumal and San Rafael municipalities suggests that local populations of this species occur at low densities, as previously reported for the population in Anori ( Molina-Zuluaga and Gutiérrez-Cárdenas 2007). The population of Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. from the municipality of San Rafael occurs within the protected areas surrounding the Peñol-Guatapé reservoir in the department of Antioquia, which may contribute positively to the future conservation status of the species.

Figures

Figure 1. A, B Phylogenetic relationships among species of the latifrons series as inferred from molecular data. The geographic distribution of each lineage is depicted, with the colors of the tree tips corresponding to the dots on the map. Geographic occurrences for species not included in our main morphological dataset were taken from Velasco et al. (2020). Dots colored with white marks in the center represent sequenced voucher included in the phylogeny. Locality record for A. savagei is indicated on the map but this species was not included in the phylogeny since no molecular data are available. Star symbol represents the type locality of Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov.

Figure 5. Paratype of Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. juvenile male MHUA - R 15831 in life. SVL 72.56 mm. Photo by Daniel Bocanumenth.

Figure 6. Holotype of Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. (MHUA - R 13757 adult male). A dorsal, B lateral, C ventral views. SVL = 86.55 mm. Photos by Daniel Bocanumenth.

Figure 7. Dewlap coloration of Anolis cyanophthalmus sp. nov. and related spp. A A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. (MHUA - R 13757, holotype, photo by M. Rivera-Correa), B A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. (MHUA - R 15831, paratype, photo by D. Bocanumenth), C A. cyanophthalmus sp. nov. (MHUA - R 11302, paratype in preservative, photo by D. Bocanumenth), D A. danieli (MHUA - R 13061, photo by F. Grisales-Martínez), E A. danieli (CSJ - H 5025, photo by L. M. Solano), F A. limon (MHUA - R 13476, photo C. M. Marín), (G) A. purpurescens (MHUA - R 15867, photo by C. M. Marín), H A. fraseri (MHUA - R 13846, photo by F. Grisales-Martínez), I A. mirus (MHUA - R 12625, photo by E. Alzate Basto), J A. latifrons (MHUA - R 15881), K A. frenatus (MHUA - R 12906) and L A. maculigula (MHUA - R 12965). All individuals are adults (except D) and males (except C and E).