Cnemidophorus gaigei RUTHVEN, 1915
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Cnemidophorus gaigei
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| Higher Taxa | Teiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Gaige’s Rainbow lizard |
| Synonym | Cnemidophorus lemniscatus gaigei RUTHVEN 1915 Cnemidophorus lemniscatus gaigei — HARVEY et al. 2012 Cnemidophorus gaigei — MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2013 |
| Distribution | Colombia (Magdalena) Type locality: Santa Marta Maountains and vicinity, Colombia. |
| Reproduction | may have bisexual and parthenogenetic forms like lemniscatus. |
| Types | Holotype: UMMZ 45352 |
| Diagnosis | |
| Comment | Synonymy and subspecies: MASLIN & SECOY 1986 listed gaigei as synonym of C. lemniscatus. MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2013 suggested to elevate splendidus, gaigei, and espeuti to full species status. However, they “suggest the new taxonomy with the caveat that molecular studies are needed for the Colombian species recognized herein, as well as other South American populations left unassigned to a subspecies by Markezich et al. (1997).” Similar species: members of the C. lemniscatus group, distinguished from all other species by the presence of preanal spurs in males and by a higher number of femoral pores (more than 40; Ávila- Pires, 1995). Avila-Pires subsummarizes a number of species under “Cnemidophorus lemniscatus species complex” due to their similarity. Members of the neotropical ‘‘C.’’ lemniscatus species group (except ‘‘C.’’ longicaudus) are more closely related to species in other neotropical cnemidophorine taxa (Ameiva and Kentropyx) (REEDER et al. 2002). Cnemidophorus lemniscatus is “Clearly a complex of species” (RIVAS et al. 2012). Ruthven (1915) described that nominal form for the Cnemidophorus populations in the Santa Marta region of northern Colombia. Burt (1931) placed C. l. gaigei in the synonymy of C. l. lemniscatus, but Harvey et al. (2012) resurrected C. l. gaigei for those populations. Cnemidophorus l. gaigei has a continuous vertebral stripe, thus differing from C. l. lemniscatus, which has a split vertebral stripe. In addition, the geographic distribution of C. l. gaigei appears to be separated from C. l. lemniscatus by C. splendidus along the north coast of Venezuela. Cnemidophorus splendidus resembles C. l. gaigei in having the vertebral stripe continuous when present (but, see Markezich et al. 1997: 40). Harvey et al. (2012: 106) presented a table with meristic data on various nominal forms of the C. lemniscatus group they examined, including C. l. gaigei and C. splendidus. Although Harvey et al. (2012) only examined two C. splendidus and 11 C. l. gaigei, they recorded 13–14 total supralabials (both sides combined) for C. splendidus and 12 (both sides combined) for all 11 C. l. gaigei. We examined an additional nine specimens of C. l. gaigei from west of its type locality (see Appendix I and Fig. 7) and all have 12 supralabials (both sides combined). Also, the nine specimens are all more similar to the Harvey et al. (2012) data for C. l. gaigei than to C. splendidus in having fewer circumorbitals (4–6, x = 5.4 ± 0.7 in C. l. gaigei versus 12–13 in C. splendidus). Morphologically, C. l. gaigei appears to be more closely related to C. ruatanus than it does to C. splendidus, its nearest geographic relative, in having fewer circumorbitals and supralabials. Given that C. l. gaigei appears to be geographically isolated from other populations of C. lemniscatus that molecular data suggest are best treated as full species (C. gramivagus to the south and southeast and C. splendidus to the east; Fig. 1), we suggest elevating C. l. gaigei to a full species, C. gaigei comb. nov. Ruthven (see Fig. 7 for the location of the C. gaigei specimens examined for this work and the location of its type locality). [from MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2013]. |
| Etymology | Named after the collector, Frederick M. Gaige, husband of Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige. |
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