54 
Records of the Australian Museum (2013) Vol. 65 
Table 2. Standardized canonical discriminant function 
coefficients for the first two canonical variables for males 
and females. Characters strongly correlated with canonical 
variables (large absolute values) are bold and italicized. 
male female 
variable 
canonical 1 
canonical 2 
canonical 1 
canonical 
SVL 
- 0.689 
0.844 
0.502 
0.445 
AG/SVL 
-0.147 
0.237 
-0.112 
-0.053 
HL/SVL 
0.683 
-0.454 
0.035 
-0.167 
HW/SVL 
-0.072 
0.349 
0.293 
-0.269 
HD/SVL 
0.429 
0.280 
-0.631 
0.531 
EYE/SVL 
0.047 
0.226 
0.161 
0.015 
SL/SVL 
0.012 
0.096 
-0.471 
0.070 
JL/SVL 
-0.405 
0.823 
-0.093 
0.081 
NW/SVL 
0.169 
0.363 
-0.153 
0.352 
HUML/SVL 
0.164 
-0.014 
-0.504 
0.465 
RADL/SVL 
0.612 
0.203 
-0.063 
- 0.719 
HAN D/S VL 
-0.646 
0.346 
-0.498 
0.275 
FING/SVL 
0.349 
-0.229 
0.621 
0.215 
FEML/SVL 
-0.239 
0.341 
0.457 
0.896 
TIBL/SVL 
- 0.828 
0.227 
0.711 
- 1.030 
FOOT/SVL 
-0.147 
0.129 
0.393 
0.249 
TOE/SVL 
0.091 
-0.082 
0.146 
-0.214 
SUPRA 
-0.279 
-0.255 
-0.448 
0.625 
INFRA 
- 0.902 
0.192 
0.911 
0.552 
ROSNAS 
0.119 
0.125 
0.155 
-0.411 
SUPRANAS 
-0.071 
0.185 
0.411 
- 0.878 
INTERNAS 
0.548 
0.181 
- 0.823 
0.430 
SDL 
0.145 
-0.162 
-0.545 
0.085 
FP 
0.758 
-0.251 
F-value 
4.61 
2.81 
2.89 
1.64 
p-value 
<0.0001 
<0.0001 
<0.0001 
0.006 
Eigenvalue 
4.843 
1.330 
3.937 
1.116 
Proportion 
0.644 
0.177 
0.672 
0.190 
of Variance 
C. mirrityana sp. nov., 31.6% southern C. decresii, 64% 
northern C. decresii , 60% C. fionni , and 20% C. vadnappa 
classified into correct groups, thus reinforcing the similarity 
of females among species within the complex. Overall, the 
correct identification rate was higher for C. mirrityana sp. 
nov. than for all other taxa. 
For males, can 1 most clearly separated Ctenophorus 
mirrityana sp. nov. from all other taxa, followed by 
separation of northern and southern C. decresii , with the 
number of infralabial scales, tibia length, number of femoral 
pores, snout-vent length, and size-corrected head length 
contributing most strongly to the discriminant function 
(Table 2). Can 2 most clearly separated C. vadnappa from 
C. mirrityana sp. nov. and southern C. decresii , with the 
strongest contributing variables being snout-vent length 
and size-corrected jaw length (Table 2). Discrimination 
was less pronounced in females than in males, and the 
low sample sizes (N = 5) for C. fionni and C. vadnappa 
resulted in considerable overlap in 95% confidence ellipses 
(Fig. 4B). For females, can 1 distinguished C. mirrityana 
sp. nov. from northern and southern C. decresii , with the 
number of infralabial scales, number of intemasal scales, 
and size-corrected tibia length contributing most strongly 
to the discriminant function (Table 2). Size-corrected tibia 
length, femur length, and radius length, and the number of 
scales between supralabial and nasal contributed strongly 
to can 2 (Table 2). 
Univariate analyses for males and females were largely 
consistent with the discriminant function analysis (DFA, 
see Appendix 2). In addition to the variables contributing 
strongly to the DFA, significant differences were found 
for ten and three other characters for males and females 
respectively. These additional characters primarily reflected 
moderate correlations among some of the morphological 
characters examined (see Appendix 3). Based on Tukey’s 
post-hoc tests, C. mirrityana sp. nov. males have significantly 
smaller head measurements (HL, HW, HD, SL, JL, andNW), 
and a greater number of supralabial and infralabial scales 
than all other taxa (Fig. 5). Similarly, head length and snout 
length of C. mirrityana sp. nov. females were generally 
smaller than in other taxa (Fig. 6). Ctenophorus mirrityana 
sp. nov. is further distinguished from C. decresii in having 
fewer internasal scales in both males and females, fewer 
femoral pores in males, and longer hindlimbs (FEML, TIBL) 
in females (Fig. 5, 6). 
Within C. decresii notable morphological separation 
was observed between the northern and southern lineage 
(Fig. 4). Southern C. decresii (both males and females) are 
smaller (SVL) than northern C. decresii and have fewer 
supralabial and infralabial scales (Fig. 5, 6). Furthermore, 
southern males have a greater number of femoral pores, 
shallower heads (HD), and shorter jaws (JL) than northern 
males (Fig. 5). 
Taxonomy 
Ctenophorus mirrityana sp. nov. 
Barrier Range Dragon 
Figs 3A, 7, 8, 9A 
Holotype. AMS R47295 (Fig. 8), an adult male with label 
data: Australia, New South Wales, Mootwingee [Historic 
Site, Mutawintji National Park], 31°17'S 142°18'E, 
20 January 1975, collector P. Rankin et al. [Office of 
Environment and Heritage], 
Paratypes. All specimens are from New South Wales. AMS R14661, 
Mootwingee Waterholes (31°19'S 142°19'E); AMS R45527-9, AMS 
R47294, AMS R47298, AMS R47335, AMS R61514, AMS R68792, 
AMS R125297, AMS R133122-3, AMS R145339, AMS R145341, 
AMS R145593, AMS R146252-3, AMS R149014, AMS R149021, AMS 
R149143, AMS R149146-7, AMS R151011-2, AMS R151014-7, AMS 
R151019-20, AMS R151733-5, AMS R153361, AMS R154857, AMS 
R154859, AMS R154863-4, AMS R154869-70, AMS R154872, AMS 
R154932-8, AMS R157300-7, AMS R157317-23, AMS R157325-8, 
AMS R157330-40, AMS R157342, AMS R157344, AMS R157346-9, 
SAM R5194A-B, SAM R14468A-B, SAM R31655, NMV D11511, 
NMV D11770, NMV D18019, NMV D40134-5, NMV D50516, NMV 
D56318-22, Mootwingee National Park (31°17'S 142°18'E), AMS 
R107358-67,6 km S Mootwingee National Park(31°18'S 142°15'E), AMS 
R161707-8, Homestead Gorge, Mootwingee National Park (31°16'35"S 
142° 18'5"E), NMV D56323, Broken Hill (31 °58'S 141 °27'E), AMS R50540, 
Koonenberry Mountain (30°31'S 142°18'E), AMS R168437, “Belmont 
Station”, N Silverton (31°46'H"S 141°14'33"E). 
