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Timon lepidus (DAUDIN, 1802)

IUCN Red List - Timon lepidus - Near Threatened, NT
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Higher TaxaLacertidae, Lacertinae, Sauria, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesTimon lepidus ibericus (LÓPEZ-SEOANE 1885)
Timon lepidus lepidus (DAUDIN 1802)
Timon lepidus oteroi (CASTROVIEJO & MATEO 1998) 
Common NamesG: Perleidechse
E: Ocellated Lizard, Jewelled Lizard
D: Parelhagedis
Italian: lucertola ocellata 
SynonymLacerta lepida DAUDIN 1802: 204
Lacerta ocellata DAUDIN 1802
Lacerta maculata DAUDIN, 1802 (fide GENIEZ et al. 2014)
Lacerta ocellata — MILNE-EDWARDS 1829: 82
Lacerta margaritata SCHINZ 1833
Lacerta ocellata — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 218
Lacerta ocellata var. margaritata — BOETTGER 1879
Lacerta ocellata var. iberica SOANE 1885: 19 (?)
Lacerta lepida — BISCHOFF et al. 1984: 181
Lacerta lepida — MALKMUS 1990
Lacerta lepida — ENGELMANN et al 1993
Timon lepidus — MAYER & BISCHOFF 1996: 168
Lacerta lepida iberica (fide PEREZ-MELLADO in SALVADOR 1998)
Timon lepidus — ARNOLD et al. 2007
Timon lepidus — SPEYBROECK et al. 2020

Timon lepidus ibericus (LÓPEZ-SEOANE 1885)
Lacerta ocellata var. iberica SEOANE 1885: 19
Lacerta ocellata iberica LÓPEZ-SEOANE 1884
Lacerta lepida iberica — MATEO & CASTROVIEJO 1991

Timon lepidus oteroi (CASTROVIEJO & MATEO 1998)
Lacerta lepida oteroi CASTROVIEJO & MATEO 1998: 7
Timon lepidus oteroorum — MICHELS & BAUER 2004
Timon lepidus oteroi — DUBOIS 2007 (by implication)
Timon lepidus oteroi — MAYER 2015 
DistributionSpain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Andorra, S France, NW Italy

Type locality: Montperllier, Southern France

ibericus: NW Spain, N Portugal

oteroorum: Spain (Isla de Salvora)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: iconotype, only known from original figure in DAUDIN 1802
Syntype: MNHN, male [Lacerta ocellata]
Lectotype: SMF 6038 [ibericus]
Holotype: EBD 16729. Estacion Biologica de Dofrana (EBD) en Sevilla, Espana" [oteroi] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Sharing with Lacerta the following combination of features that mainly occur elsewhere only in a minority of other Lacertini and are sometimes restricted to the two genera: large body size, head and body deep, nasal process of premaxilla often broad, nine premaxillary teeth in adults, usually 27 presacral vertebrae in males; often seven posterior presacral vertebrae with short ribs; occipital scale often relatively broad, collar strongly serrated, ventral scales with sloping sides and strong posterior overlap, preanal scale often surrounded by more than one semicircle of smaller scales, often green above and underside without bright contrasting colour except sometimes on throat, no blue spots on outer ventral scales, bodenaponeurosis without a lateral partition, retractor lateralis anterior muscle inserting in front of vent but away from midline, hatchlings ‘embryonic’ with very large head and short extremities compared with those of most other Lacertini. Other more widely distributed features include: supraocular osteoderms complete in adults, inscriptional ribs present, and tail not brightly coloured in hatchlings.
Differs from Lacerta in larger adult body sizes (100–210 mm or more from snout to vent); maxillary-jugal suture not stepped, medial loop of clavicle more often interrupted posteriorly, occipital scale more frequently very broad, dorsal body scales not always keeled; no narrow light stripes in in dorsal pattern, often well defined blue ocelli on flanks, hemipenial microornamentation of hook-shaped spines, longer spines occurring on the lobe flanks only in T. princeps; 32 single-armed and 2 double-armed macrochromosomes and two microchromosomes (from Arnold et al. 2007: 60). 
CommentSynonymy: Timon used to be a subgenus of Lacerta. T. l. ibericus is not universally accepted (Pérez-Mellado 1998). Timon lepidus nevadensis (BUCHHOLZ 1963) is now considered as a valid species.

Max. length 90 cm, but usually shorter (55-70 cm in males, 45 in females).

Type Species: Lacerta lepida Daudin, 1802 is the type species of the genus Timon TSCHUDI 1836.

Distribution: See AHMADZADEH et al. 2016: Fig. 1 for a map. 
EtymologyT. l. oteroi has been named after Mr. and Mrs. D. Joaquín Otero. However, Oscar Arribas (pers. comm., 26 Jul 2016) noted that “the correction of Michels & Bauer of T. lepidus oteroi to oteroorum” is invalid, given “that in Spain the wife do not adopts the husband surname. She never was an "Otero", hence oteroorum does not make sense. On the other hand, since the name honoured two people, the grammatical gender has to be plural, and thus “oteroorum” is reasonable too. This may be a case that cannot decided unambiguously given that there are conflicting rules in the Code (A. Bauer, pers. comm. 26 Jul 2016). 
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