A high mountain lizard from Peru: The world’s highest-altitude reptile

By

Cerdeña, José
Farfan, Jackie
Quiroz, Aarón J

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2021-2-15

Original Publication

Herpetozoa

Volume

34

Pages

61--65

Subjects

alticolor-bibronii group , Arequipa , Chachani , L. tacnae , Liolaemus

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Sofia, Bulgaria Pensoft Publishers

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/herpetozoa.34.61393

 

Abstract

Life at high altitudes is particularly challenging for ectothermic animals like reptiles and involves the evolution of specialised adaptations to deal with low temperatures, hypoxia and intense UV radiation. As a result, only very few reptile taxa are able to survive above 5,000 m elevation and herpetological observations from these altitudes are exceedingly rare. We report here an exceptional observation of a lizard population (Liolaemus aff. tacnae; Reptilia, Squamata) from the high Andes of Peru. During an ascent of Chachani mountain (6,054 m, 16°11'S, 71°32'W), we observed and documented photographically this species living between 5,000 and 5,400 m above sea level. Following a review of literature, we show that this is the highest known record of a reptile species.