The rediscovery of oplurus bibronii guichenot, 1848 a valid species of the liolaemid genus phymaturus (Iguania: Liolaemidae)

Abstract

Oplurus bibronii was a species described more than 160 years ago from the highlands of Ovalle, Chile. The species was earlier synonymized with Phymaturus palluma and since then its taxonomic status has not been re-examined. In February of 2011, we were successful in capturing specimens of Phymaturus in the highlands of Ovalle and additionally we exami-ned high quality digital pictures of the type series of O. bibronii. Our analysis shows that the type series is composed of two different species, one of which overlaps their diagnostic characters with the characters of the specimens collected in the highlands of Ovalle, and therefore they correspond to Phymaturus bibronii (new combination). In addition, our review of the holotype, and some paratypes and topotypes of the recently described P. paihuanense shows that this is a junior synonym of P. bibronii.