McLean et al.: A new dragon lizard from New South Wales 
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Fig. 7. Male (A) and female (B) Ctenophorus mirrityana sp. nov. from Silverton Wind Farm site, 35 km north west 
of Broken Hill, NSW (photo S. Sass). 
Fig. 8. Holotype of Ctenophorus mirrityana sp. nov. (AMS R47295) in dorsal and ventral views. An adult male from 
Mootwingee National Park, New South Wales. Scale bar = 1 cm. 
Coloration and six other morphological characters 
differentiate northern and southern C. decresii (Fig. 5, 6). 
These differences are particularly notable given the overall 
morphological conservatism within the C. decresii species 
complex. For example, we detected little divergence in 
morphological characters between northern C. decresii 
and C. fionni males. The current key for Ctenophorus 
distinguishes C. fionni from C. decresii based on a lack 
of prominent tubercular scales on the flanks of the former 
(Houston & Hutchinson, 1998). However, our morphological 
analysis showed that this is not a reliable distinction as 
tubercular scales were not consistently present in northern 
C. decresii. A more in-depth comparison of C. decresii and 
C. fionni is needed in order to determine reliable defining 
characters and update the current species key. 
In addition to phenotypic differentiation, including throat 
coloration, there is notable genetic divergence between the 
northern and southern lineage of C. decresii , with genetic 
admixture between these lineages geographically restricted, 
suggesting potential barriers to gene flow (McLean et 
al., submitted). Taxonomic separation of the northern 
and southern lineages is further supported by the lack 
