South American is home to a large number of small lizards in the family Gymnophthalmidae, sometimes called microteiids. The photo above is from Echinosaura palmeri (Courtesy of Wikipedia and Grupo Herpetlogico de Antioquia, Universidad de Antioquia, Museo de Herpetologia).
Yanez-Munoz et al. (2022) described a new species of spiny-microteiid of the genus Echinosaura from the Imbabura and Carchi Provinces on the western slopes of the Andes in northwestern Ecuador. The new species mostly closely resembles E. horrida. However, the new species Echinosaura fischerorum (to the left) can be distinguished from all congeners by having keeled enlarged dorsal scales forming a paired vertebral row, two paravertebral series of short oblique rows of projecting scales, and a pair of spine-like scales on temporal and nuchal regions. The authors also provide a detailed description of the osteology of the skull and pectoral girdle of the new species and present a phylogenetic hypothesis for Echinosaura based on three mitochondrial genes (12S, 16S, ND4) and one nuclear gene (c-mos).
Image to the left. The holotype of Echinosaura fischerorum sp. nov. (male, DHMECN 15208) in dorsal (upper left), ventral (upper right), and lateral (bottom) views. Scale bars = 10 mm. Photographs by MYM.
Yánez-Muñoz MH, Torres-Carvajal O, Reyes-Puig JP, Urgiles-Merchán MA, Koch C. 2021. A new and very spiny lizard (Gymnophthalmidae: Echinosaura) from the Andes in northwestern Ecuador. PeerJ 9:e12523 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.12523
