Nuevo registro de Liolaemus warjantay (Reptilia, Liolaemidae) y comentarios sobre el grupo montanus en Perú

Se registra Liolaemus warjantay para el departamento de Ayacucho, una especie conocida anteriormente solo para Arequipa. La nueva población es identificada en base a secuencias de ADN y se muestra su variación morfométrica y merística. También, se realizan comentarios sobre las especies recientemente descritas del grupo montanus de Perú.

Liolaemus warjantay is recorded in the Ayacucho department, a species previously known only from Arequipa. The new population is identified based on DNA sequences, also its morphometric and meristic variability is presented. Additionally, comments are made regarding recently described species within the montanus group in Peru.

Microhabitat use, daily activity pattern, and diet of Liolaemus etheridgei Laurent, 1998 (Reptilia: Liolaemidae) in the Andean Polylepis forests of Arequipa, Peru.

This study describes the microhabitat use, daily activity pattern, and diet of Liolaemus etheridgei Laurent, 1998 in the El Simbral and Tuctumpaya Polylepis forests in Arequipa, Peru. El Simbral is a fragmented forest, whereas Tuctumpaya is unfragmented. Our results reveal that L. etheridgei shows no positive selection for any of the microhabitats we identified in Polylepis forests; on the contrary, it selects negatively against Polylepis trees and nonthorny bushes. The daily activity patterns indicate a bimodal pattern with peaks at 9:00-10:59 and 13:00-13:59 h. The diet of L. etheridgei consists mainly of plant material, and the most important animal prey category is Lygaeidae: Hemiptera, which is selected for positively. In particular, microhabitat selection varied for nonthorny bushes, which were selected negatively in the Tuctumpaya population but neither positively nor negatively in the El Simbral population. According to the proportions of plant material found, the L. etheridgei from El Simbral were found to be omnivorous, whereas the Tuctumpaya population was herbivorous. However, the percentage of plant material consumed in the El Simbral population was close to the critical value for herbivory-omnivory. We conclude that the three ecological aspects of L. etheridgei studied here are virtually identical in El Simbral and Tuctumpaya; therefore, this species is not affected significantly by the current fragmentation of forest.