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Anolis polylepis PETERS, 1874

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Higher TaxaAnolidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Many-scaled Anole 
SynonymAnolis polylepis PETERS 1874: 738
Anolis polylepis — BOULENGER 1885: 52
Anolis polylepis — PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970
Norops polylepis — VILLA et al. 1988
Anolis polylepis — BAUER et al. 1995: 59
Norops polylepis — KÖHLER 2000: 63
Norops polylepis — NICHOLSON 2002
Anolis polylepis — COOPER 2005
Norops polylepis — NICHOLSON et al. 2012
Norops polylepis — NICHOLSON et al. 2018 
DistributionW Panama, SW Costa Rica (exclusive of the Penisula de Osa), 0-1615 m elevation

Type locality: “Chiriqui” [Panama]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ZMB, MCZ 21962-63 (fide CRUMLY 1986) 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A medium-sized species (SVL in largest specimen 59.4 mm) of the genus Anolis (sensu Poe 2004) that differs from all other Lower Central American beta anoles (sensu Etheridge 1967) except Anolis apletophallus, A. cryptolimifrons, and A. limifrons in that it is long-legged (longest toe of adpressed hind leg reaches to at least center of eye), has smooth ventral scales, and a slender habitus, often delicate. Anolis polylepis differs from the species in the cluster listed above by having two elongate, overlapping superciliaries (one such scale in A. apletophallus, A. cryptolimifrons, and A. limifrons), usually two anterior prenasal scales (versus one elongate prenasal scale) and dewlap coloration (usually orange with a darker orange basal portion in A. polylepis versus dirty white with a basal orange-yellow blotch in A. cryptolimifrons and A. limifrons, almost uniformly orange-yellow in A. apletophallus). Additionally, A. polylepis differs from A. limifrons, the only species of this cluster with which it occurs sympatrically, by having a bilobed hemipenis (unilobed in A. limifrons) [from KÖHLER et al. 2010]. 
CommentHybridization: A. osa and A. polylepis form a hybrid zone, i.e. they may hybridize desprite their different hemipenes (Köhler et al. 2012, Salamandra).

Synonymy: GenBank had KP100436 (POE 2276) as A. zeus but is treated as A. polylepis in Köhler 2015

Species group: Norops auratus Species Group (fide Nicholson et al. 2012) 
EtymologyNamed after Greek polys (πολύς), several + Greek lepis (λεπίς), scale. [“...Mittlere Rückenschuppen gekielt, kleiner als die Bauchschuppen und etwas grösser als die granulirten Seitenschuppen...”]. 
References
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