World Congress Of Herpetology 7: Reptile Diversity And Distribution In The Highlands Of Western Panama

Lotzkat, Sebastian (Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum);

Reptile diversity and distribution in the highlands of western Panama

The Cordillera Central of western Panama constitutes the eastern half of the Lower Central American, or Talamancan, highlands, which separate the perhumid Caribbean from the seasonally subhumid Pacific lowlands throughout most of Costa Rica and western Panama. Especially in the latter country, herpetological surveys of these mountains have long been of punctual nature, leaving large stretches unexplored and many issues regarding taxonomy and biogeography unsolved. Over the past decade, more and more localities within this rugged mountain chain have been visited by herpetologists. Between 2008 and 2010, I have spent 12 months in the Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé as well as the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, and Veraguas of western Panama, visited more than 35 generalized localities, and together with accompanying students collected over 850 well-documented squamate specimens currently understood to represent 112 species. Among these and other vouchers, I gathered and compared morphological as well as 16S and COI mtDNA data to assess intraspecific variation and species boundaries. For a comprehensive biogeographical picture, I have collected several thousands of locality records from literature and collection databases.

The collection of new material along with the application of integrative taxonomy considerably complement our knowledge of reptilian diversity in western Panama. Distributional range extensions for known species, discoveries of secretive organisms formerly unknown to science, and the identification of cryptic lineages within species complexes have noticeably lengthened the respective species lists. Against this background, the multitude of newly generated distributional records now allows to approximate the actual geographic distribution of several taxa for the first time. This applies to recently described endemics of high or intermediate elevations as well as to common lowland species. Reptile species occurring in Panama‘s Cordillera Central typically exhibit one of the following four distributional patterns: (1) More or less widespread lowland species like Basiliscus basiliscus and Spilotes pullatus reach up to premontane or montane elevations along the Caribbean and/or Pacific versant; (2) ―Golfo Dulce endemics like Potamites apodemus and Lachesis melanocephala are restricted to the Pacific lowlands and adjacent premontane elevations of eastern Costa Rica and western Panama; (3) ―Talamancan highland endemics‖ like Anolis salvini and Rhadinaea calligaster occur over large parts of the Lower Central American highlands, i.e., along well more than one hundred kilometers of premontane and/or montane elevations in both Panama and Costa Rica; (4) Small-scale highland endemics like Anolis benedikti and Geophis talamancae are known only from a few rather contiguous localities and appear to be restricted to usually well less than one hundred kilometers at premontane and/or montane elevations. In the latter context, special emphasis must be placed on the blatantly underexplored Serranía de Tabasará comprising the eastern continuous part of the Cordillera Central, between the Fortuna depression and Santa Fé. This range of difficult access harbors a set of small-scale highland endemics of its own, whereas its natural habitats find themselves seriously threatened with destruction owing to a desastrous socioeconomic setting. Most of this mountain chain falls within the indigenous autonomy territory Comarca Ngöbe-Buglé, where extreme poverty drives the growing population to increasingly exploit the natural resources while legendary metal deposits attract foreign mining interests. Since the greatest part of the Serranía de Tabasará is completely devoid of protected areas, its proper endemics are facing an uncertain future.