Two new species of the Norops pachypus complex (Squamata, Dactyloidae) from Costa Rica

Abstract

We describe two new species of anoles from Costa Rica, which previously have been referred to as Norops pachypus or N. tropidolepis by different authors: Norops alocomyos sp. nov. from the Pacific versant of the western portion of the Cordillera de Talamanca and the highlands south of Escazú, and Norops leditzigorum sp. nov. from the Cordillera de Tilarán, V olcán Rincón de la Vieja, and the western portion of the Cordillera Central. Both belong to a cluster of species related to N. pachypus and are most similar in external morphology to N. tropidolepis, from which they differ by molecular distances and in hemipenial morphology, as well as in subtle differences in male dewlap color and several scalation characters.