The gymnophthalmid lizard clade Macropholidus, traditionally ranked as a genus, was recently defined by Torres-Carvajal and Mafla-Endara (2013) as the largest crown clade containing Macropholidus ruthveni Noble1921, but not Pholidobolus montium Peters 1863. This phylogenetic definition (de Queiroz and Gauthier, 1994) is based on a phylogenetic tree obtained from analyses of mitochondrial DNA nucleotide sequence data (Torres-Carvajal and Mafla-Endara, 2013), and is in conflict with previous non-phylogenetic definitions of both Pholidobolus and Macropholidus (Montanucci, 1973; Reeder, 1996) based on morphological data. In contrast to Pholidobolus, members of Macropholidus have a single transparent palpebral disc in the lower eyelid and lack a lateral fold between fore and hind limbs (Torres-Carvajal and Mafla-Endara, 2013). Macropholidus lizards occur between 800 and 3000 m within a region of relatively low-elevation mountains in the Andes of southern Ecuador and northern Peru, known as the Huancabamba Depression (Torres- Carvajal and Mafla-Endara, 2013). As defined by Torres- Carvajal and Mafla-Endara (2013), Macropholidus contains four species (M. annectens, M. ataktolepis, M. huancabambae, M. ruthveni) of which only M. annectens has been reported for Ecuador. Macropholidus ruthveni is currently known from both humid and dry Andean montane forests in northern Peru at elevations between 800-2500 m (Cadle and Chuna, 1995; P. Venegas pers. comm.). Herein, we present the first record of M. ruthveni for Ecuador, based on a male collected at Reserva Natural Tumbesia - La Ceiba, Zapotillo, Province of Loja in southwestern Ecuador (Fig. 1; S 4.2746, W 80.3158; WGS84; 477 m). This specimen (QCAZ 13095) was collected in September 2014 in a pitfall trap, and is housed at the herpetological collection of Museo de Zoología, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito. It was identified as M. ruthveni by having a paired series of enlarged middorsal scale rows continuous to the base of the tail, small temporals, and by lacking prefrontal scales (Cadle and Chuna, 1995). In addition to morphological diagnosability as M. ruthveni, the new specimen from Ecuador (GenBank accession number KP874950) has a genetic distance of 0.096 when compared with a specimen from Peru (GenBank accession number KC894382) for the mitochondrial gene ND4. This value is lower that the lowest interspecific distance value (0.153) among species of Macropholidus (Torres-Carvajal and Mafla- Endara, 2013). Reserva Natural Tumbesia - La Ceiba is part of the program “Socio Bosque” started by the Ecuadorian government seven years ago, and includes 57 hectares of protected forest in an area that used to be disturbed by goats. This locality lies approximately 210 km NW from the nearest record (CORBIDI 4281, Región Lambayeque, Perú) of M. ruthveni reported in the literature (Torres-Carvajal and Mafla-Endara, 2013). Acknowledgements We thank Andrea Jara Guerrero, Ariana Rivera and Diana Székely for assistance in the field; Simón Lobos for help with the map; Pablo J. Venegas for verifying the taxonomic identity Herpetology Notes, volume 8: 25-26 (2015) (published online on 10 March 2015) First record of Macropholidus ruthveni Noble 1921 (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from Ecuador Omar Torres-Carvajal 1, *, Fernando P. Gaona 2 , Carlos Zaragoza 2 and Paul Székely 2,3 1 Museo de Zoología, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Avenida 12 de Octubre 1076 y Roca, Apartado 17-01 2184, Quito, Ecuador 2 Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja, Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, San Cayetano Alto, calle Marcelino Champagnat s/n, Loja, Ecuador 3 Ovidius University Constanţa, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Aleea Universităţii, nr. 1, corpul B, 900470, Constanţa, Romania * Corresponding author: omartorcar@gmail.com