A New Species of Abronia (Squamata: Anguidae) from a Protected Area in Chiapas, Mexico

We describe a new species of the genus Abronia from the La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve in western Chiapas, Mexico. The new species is known only from the vicinity of the type locality in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. It is readily distinguished from all congeners by the following combination of characters: lack of protuberant or spine-like supra-auricular scales, lack of protuberant or casque-like posterolateral head scales, 30–35 transverse dorsal scale rows, lateralmost row of ventral scales enlarged relative to adjacent medial row, dorsum brown with 8–10 transverse dark crossbands, and dark lateral bar on the neck extending from the shoulder to near the auricular opening. We tentatively assign the new species to the subgenus Lissabronia pending the availability of a robust, comprehensive molecular phylogeny for the genus. We discuss regional Abronia biogeography and comment on the conservation implications of our discovery for the imperiled highland forests of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas, a globally important center of endemism.