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Holcosus festivus (LICHTENSTEIN & MARTENS, 1856)

IUCN Red List - Holcosus festivus - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaTeiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesS: Ameiva Festiva
S: Middle American Ameiva
S: Lagartija Parda [edwardsii]
E: Edward’s Middle American Ameiva [edwardsii] 
SynonymCnemidophorus festivus LICHTENSTEIN & MARTENS 1856: 13
Ameiva eutropia COPE 1862: 62 (fide DUNN 1940)
Ameiva edwardsii BOCOURT 1873
Ameiva festivus — BOCOURT 1874
Ameiva festiva — GÜNTHER 1885: 24
Ameiva festiva — BOULENGER 1885: 347
Ameiva festiva festiva — DUNN 1940: 114
Ameiva festiva edwardsii — STUART 1943: 21
Ameiva festiva edwardsii — SMITH & LAUFE 1946: 64
Ameiva festiva edwardsii — STUART 1948
Ameiva festiva edwardsii — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 174
Ameiva festiva edwardsii — BRATTSTROM & HOWELL 1954
Ameiva festiva occidentalis TAYLOR 1956: 264
Ameiva festiva edwardsi — STUART 1963
Ameiva festiva — PETERS et al. 1970: 21
Ameiva eutropia — ECHTERNACHT 1974
Ameiva festiva — LINER 1994
Ameiva festiva — KÖHLER 2000: 97
Holcosus festivus — HARVEY et al. 2012
Holcosus festivus — MARTÍNEZ-FONSECA et al. 2024 
DistributionS Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador ?, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia; elevation: 100-1000 m

edwardsii: Atlantic foothills from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec through Honduras, in heavy forests. Chiapas. Type locality: Izabal and Santa María de Panzós, near Río Polochic, Guatemala. Restricted to Panzós by SMITH & TAYLOR 1950.

eutropia: Colombia; Type locality: “"Region of the Truando, New Grenada" (= Intendencia de Chocö of Colombia).

festiva: Panama, N Colombia; Type locality: “Veragoa” (= Santiago de Veragua, Panama).

occidentalis: Costa Rica. Type locality: 8.0 km E San Isidro del General, San Jose Prov., Costa Rica.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ZMB 881
Lectotype: ANSP 9071, designated by Echternacht 1974, paralectotypes: USNM 4320 [eutropia]
Holotype: private collection of Richard C Taylor No. 874, paratype: KU, collected by Richard C Taylor [occidentalis]
Holotype: MNHN-RA 5480 [edwardsii] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (498 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy partly that of PETERS & OREJAS-MIRANDA 1970. Not listed for El Salvador by KÖHLER (2000). Echternacht 1971 rejected subspecies of A. festiva and listed both edwardsii and occidentalis as synonym of A. festiva. Most authors seem to have followed him. Echternacht 1974 stresses the similarity between festivus and eutropia but leaves the latter as valid species (whose status remains a bit unclear as there seems to be only 4 syntypes).

Relative abundance in Honduras: common

Sympatry: Ameiva (= Holcosus) quadrilineatus 
EtymologyThe name festivus is Latin for gay, joyous, or merry, and was apparently used in reference to the bright color pattern of this species (McCranie 2018: 414). 
References
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