Resurrection of Bronchocela burmana Blanford, 1878 for the Green Crested Lizard (Squamata, Agamidae) of southern Myanmar

By

Zug, George R., 1938-
Mulcahy, Daniel
Vindum, Jens V.

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2017

Original Publication

ZooKeys

Volume

657

Pages

141-156

Subjects

molecular phylogeny , Morphology , Nomenclature , Peninsular Malaysia , Reptilia , Southeast Asia , synonymy , Tanintharyi Division , Thailand

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.657.11600

 

Abstract

Recent fieldwork in southern Tanintharyi revealed the presence of a small Green Crested Lizard in the wet evergreen forest. We generated mtDNA sequence data (ND2) that demonstrates that this population’s nearest relative is Bronchocela rayaensis Grismer et al., 2015 of Pulau Langkawi, northwestern Peninsular Malaysia and Phuket Island. Morphologically the Burmese Bronchocela shares many features with B. rayaensis, which potentially would make this recently described Thai-Malay species a synonym of Bronchocela burmana Blanford, 1878; however, we interpret the genetic and morphological differences to reflect evolutionary divergence and recommend the recognition of both species.