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Cercosaura olivacea (GRAY, 1845)

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Higher TaxaGymnophthalmidae (Cercosaurinae), Sauria, Gymnophthalmoidea, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Olive Tegu 
SynonymEmminia olivacea GRAY 1845: 24
Cercosaura humilis PETERS 1862: 180
Cercosaura olivacea — PETERS 1862: 181
Cercosaura ocellata — O’SHAUGHNESSY 1881: 228 (part)
Cercosaura ocellata — BOULENGER 1885: 395 (part)
Cercosaura ocellata — BURT & BURT 1931: 323 (part);
Cercosaura ocellata — BURT & BURT 1933: 58 (part?)
Cercosaura ocellata — DOAN 2003: 104 (part)
Cercosaura ocellata — OLIVEIRA & MOURA 2013: 387
Cercosaura ocellata — SALES et al., 2014: 1531.
Cercosaura ocellata petersi RUIBAL, 1952: 497
Cercosaura ocellata petersi — CUNHA, 1961: 131
Cercosaura ocellata petersi — TEDESCO & AGUIRRE 1998: 53.
Cercosaura ocellata ocellata — CUNHA, 1961: 131 (part)
Cercosaura ocellata petersi — PETERS et al. 1970: 91
Cercosaura ocellata ocellata — AVILA-PIRES 1995: 361 (part)
Cercosaura ocellata petersi — LEHR 2004
Cercosaura olivaceae — OLIVEIRA-LIMA et al. 2022 (in error) 
DistributionBrazil (Amazonas, Cerrado, Pantanal, Atlantic forest and Pampas, Rio de Janeiro, Sergipe), Argentina

Type locality: Pernambuco, Brazil

humilis: Type locality: “Brasilien”

petersi: type locality: Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ZMB 899 [Cercosaura humilis PETERS 1863]
Holotype: MCZ 43300, adult female [petersi] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Cercosaura with maximum female SVL 56.1 mm and maximum male SVL 53.0 mm; snout round; frontonasal single; nasal, loreal and frenocular undivided; loreal in contact with first supralabial; four infralabials to posterior margin of eyes; four pairs of chinshields; 8–14 neck scales in a vertical row; 21–28 scales around midbody; dorsal scales hexagonal, keeled and organized in longitudinal rows, twice as long as scales on flanks, 29– 34 along a middorsal line, from occipitals to anterior margin of hind limbs; six longitudinal rows of ventrals; precloacal plate in males usually with two anterior and two posterior scales, in females usually two anterior and four posterior scales; 2–4 femoral pores on one side in males, 0–2 (exceptionality three) in females; 6–9 lamellae under finger I; head, throat and body ventrally predominantly white or cream (in adult males it may become orange), usually with black blotches (Sturaro et al. 2018). 
CommentSynonymy: after Sturaro et al. 2018. O’Shaughnessy (1881) considered Cercosaura olivacea a junior synonym of C. ocellata. Boulenger (1885) synonymized C. olivacea and C. humilis with C. ocellata. Sturaro et al. 2018 revalidated C. olivacea.

Subspecies: Cercosaura ocellata bassleri RUIBAL 1952 has been elevated to full species by TORRES-CARVAJAL et al. 2015 (who do not make any comments on the status of petersi though). The only character that seems to devide the two (sub-) species completely is an undivided (ocellata) or divided (bassleri) loreal scale, although other distinguishing (but more variable) characters exist.

Distribution: see map in Sturaro et al. 2018.

Similar species: C. ocellata, C. bassleri. 
EtymologyThe name olivacea is formed from the Latin word oliva (olive tree) and refers to the characteristic olive color of this species. 
References
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