You are here » home › advanced search › Bachia heteropa

Bachia heteropa (LICHTENSTEIN & MARTENS, 1856)

iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Bachia heteropa?

Add your own observation of
Bachia heteropa »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaGymnophthalmidae (Cercosaurinae, Bachiinae), Sauria, Gymnophthalmoidea, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesBachia heteropa heteropa (LICHTENSTEIN & MARTENS 1856)
Bachia heteropa marcelae DONOSO-BARROS 1968 
Common NamesE: LaGuaira Bachia, Worm lizard
S: Falsa vibora común, lagartija lombriz 
SynonymChalcides heteropus LICHTENSTEIN & MARTENS 1856: 17
Bachia heteropus — GARMAN 1892: 97
Bachia lineata BOULENGER 1903: 432
Scolecosaurus trinitatis BARBOUR 1914: 316
Bachia heteropa — RUTHVEN 1925: 105
Scolecosaurus trinitatis — JOHNSON 1946
Bachia heteropa — PRESCH 1975
Bachia heteropus — SCHWARTZ & HENDERSON 1991: 366
Bachia heteropus — BAUER & GÜNTHER 1994
Bachia heteropa — GORZULA & SEÑARIS 1999
Bachia heteropa — JOHN et al. 2012
Bachia heteropa heteropa — DIAGO-TORO et al. 2021
Bachia heteropa lineata — DIAGO-TORO et al. 2021

Bachia heteropa marcelae DONOSO-BARROS 1968
Bachia marcelae DONOSO-BARROS & GARRIDO 1964: 3
Bachia lineata marcelae — DONOSO-BARROS 1968
Bachia heteropa marcelae — JOHN et al. 2012
Bachia heteropa marcelae — DIAGO-TORO et al. 2021 
DistributionN Venezuela (e.g. Falcon, Mérida [Esqueda & La Marca 1999], Carabobo, Yaracuy), Trinidad, Isla Margarita, Grenada Bank
Colombia [Castro,F. (pers. comm.)]

marcelae: Venezuela; Type locality: “Bosque tropical La Luz, Edo. Barinas, Venezuela.”

Type locality: La Guaira, Venezuela.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: ZMB 1173
Holotype: BMNH 1962.7.29.90 [lineata]
Holotype: MCZ 7793 [alleni]
Holotype: NMBA = NHMB [anomala]
Holotype: MCZ 8947 (also given as 947), adult, A. B. Carr, collector [trinitatis]
Holotype: unlocated (was: DB 6312061, i.e. private collection of Donoso-Barros, collected on 12 December 1963 by R. Donoso-Barros and A. Garrido [marcelae]
Holotype: MCZ 32345 [parviceps] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A Bachia with (1) no prefrontal scales; (2) the third supraocular is the longest; (3) the frontonasal is hexagonal; (4) four digits are present on the manus and three on the pes (5) a band of imbricate hexagonal scales on the dorsum; (6) scales around mid-body 28–30; (7) 4–47 transverse rows of dorsals; (8) the fifth upper labial contacts primary temporal; (9) the gulars are in six or seven; (10) the second pair of chin shield are in medial contact; (11) a sub-triangular interparietal present (fide Murphy et al. 2019). 
CommentSynonymy mostly that of Dixon (1973). BAUER & GÜNTHER 1994 list Bachia alleni trinitatis as valid combination. Thomas (1965) considered B. trinitatis to be a subspecies of B. alleni. Later, Donoso-Barros (1968) considered B. marcelae to be a subspecies of B. lineata, retaining B. heteropa and B. alleni as separate species. However, Dixon (1973) synonymized B. marcelae with B. heteropa. However, John et al. 2012 recognized marcelae as valid. The name Chalcides heteropus was not used by Wiegmann as occasionally cited, but by Lichtenstein and Martens 1856 (15 years are Wiegmann’s death) who are the original describers. See Gutsche 2016: 169 for details.

Subspecies: Intermediate specimens between B. h. heteropa and B. h. trinitatis are known from eastern Venezuela but intermediates between B. h. lineata and B. h. heteropa are unknown although both subspecies have been recorded from nearby areas (B. h. heteropa from la Guaira, Vargas State and B. h. lineata from Distrito Federal, Caracas) [RIVAS et al. 2012]. Bachia heteropa alleni (BARBOUR 1914) has been elevated to full species status.

Type species: Chalcides heteropus Lichtenstein 1856 is the type species of the genus Sesquipes Cope 1896:466 (fide Dixon 1973: 14).

Distribution: Not on Tobago (Murphy et al. 2019).

NCBI taxon ID: 371684 [trinitatis] 
EtymologyNamed after Greek heteros (ἕτερος), of another kind, different + Greek pous (πούς), foot. [“...Pedibus anticis tetradactylis, posticis didactylis...”].  (from Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., May 2024) 
References
  • Barbour, T. 1933. Notes on Scolecosaurus. Copeia 1933 (2): 74-77 - get paper here
  • Barbour, Thomas 1914. A Contribution to the Zoögeography of the West Indies, with Especial Reference to Amphibians and Reptiles. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy 44 (2): 205-359 - get paper here
  • Bauer, A.M. and R. Günther 1994. An annotated type catalogue of the teiid and microteiid lizards in the Zoological Museum, Berlin (Reptilia: Squamata: Teiidae and Gymnophthalmidae). Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin 70:267-280 - get paper here
  • Bentz, Ehren J.; Mel José Rivera Rodríguez, Rebecca R. John, Robert W. Henderson, and Robert Powell 2011. Population Densities, Activity, Microhabitats, and Thermal Biology of a Unique Crevice- and Litter-dwelling Assemblage of Reptiles on Union Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Herp. Cons. Biol. 6 (1): 40-50 - get paper here
  • Boos, H.E.A. 1984. The terrestrial reptiles of Monos island. Living World - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1903. Descriptions of new lizards in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 12: 429-435 - get paper here
  • Brongersma, L.D. 1946. Some notes on species of the genera Bachia and Scolecosaurus. Zoologische Mededelingen 26: 237-246 - get paper here
  • Daan, S. & Hillenius,D. 1966. Catalogue of the type specimens of amphibians and reptiles in the Zoological Museum, Amsterdam. Beaufortia 13: 117-144
  • Daudin, Jacques; de Silva, Mark. 2007. An annotated checklist of the amphibians and terrestrial reptiles of the Grenadines with notes on their local natural history and conservation. Applied Herpetology 4 (2):163-175 - get paper here
  • DIAGO-TORO, MARÍA F.; DANIELA GARCÍA-COBOS, GIOVANNI D. BRIGANTE-LUNA & JUAN D. VÁSQUEZ-RESTREPO. 2021. Fantastic lizards and where to find them: cis-Andean microteiids (Squamata: Alopoglossidae & Gymnophthalmidae) from the Colombian Orinoquia and Amazonia. Zootaxa 5067 (3): 377–400. - get paper here
  • Disi, Ahmad; Zuhair S. Amr, Nashat Hamidan 2014. Diversity, Threats, and Conservation of the Terrestrial and Freshwater Herpetofauna of Jordan. Russ. J. Herpetol. 21 (3): 221-233 - get paper here
  • Dixon, J.R. 1973. A systematic review of the teiid lizards, genus Bachia, with remarks on Heterodactylus and Anotosaura. Misc. Publ. Univ. Kans. Mus. Nat. Hist. 57: 1-47 - get paper here
  • Donoso-Barros, R. 1968. The lizards of Venezuela (checklist and key). Carib. J. Sci. 8 (3-4): 105-122
  • Donoso-Barros, R. and A. Garrido R. 1964. Nuevo Teiidae de Venezuela, Bachia marcelae, nov. sp. Publ. Ocas. Mus. Cienc. Nat., Caracas (Zool.) 8: 1-7
  • Duméril, A. M. C. and G. Bibron. 1839. Erpétologie Générale on Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Vol. 5. Roret/Fain et Thunot, Paris, 871 pp. - get paper here
  • Esqueda, Luis Felipe, Enrique La Marca, Marco Natera and Pietro Battiston 2001. Noteworthy reptilian state records and a lizard species new to the herpetofauna of Venezuela. Herpetological Review 32 (3):198-200 - get paper here
  • Fitzinger, L. 1826. Neue Classification der Reptilien nach ihren natürlichen Verwandtschaften nebst einer Verwandschafts-Tafel und einem Verzeichnisse der Reptilien-Sammlung des K. K. Zoologischen Museums zu Wien. J. G. Heubner, Wien, 66 pp. - get paper here
  • Garman, S. 1892. On Cophias and Bachia. Bull. Essex Inst. 24: 96-97
  • Gorzula, Stefan & Senaris, J. Celsa 1999. In: Contribution to the herpetofauna of the Venezuelan Guayana. I: a data base. Scientia Guaianae, Caracas, No. 8 [1998], 269+ pp.; ISBN 980-6020-48-0
  • Gutsche, A. 2016. Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann (1802–1841) und sein Beitrag zur Herpetologie der Neotropis am Zoologischen Museum Berlin. Mertensiella 23: 156–169
  • John, Rebecca R., Ehren J. Bentz, Mel Jose Rivera Rodriguez, Aaron M. Bauer and Robert Powell. 2012. Bachia heteropa. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (894): 1-9 - get paper here
  • Johnson, M.L. 1946. Herpetological Notes from Trinidad. Copeia 1946 (2): 108 - get paper here
  • Kramer, Eugen 1979. Typenkatalog der Echsen im Naturhistorischen Museum Basel (BM), Stand 1978. [type catalogue] Revue Suisse de Zoologie 86 (1): 159-166 - get paper here
  • Lichtenstein, H., and E. von Martens. 1856. Nomenclator reptilium et amphibiorum Musei Zoologici Berolinensis. Namenverzeichniss der in der zoologischen Sammlung der Königlichen Universität zu Berlin aufgestellten Arten von Reptilien und Amphibien nach ihren Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen. Königliche Akademie der Wissenschaften, Berlin / Buchdruckerei der Königl. Akad. der Wiss., iv + 48 pp. - get paper here
  • Lynn, W.G. 1959. Some Reptiles and Amphibians From Trinidad. Herpetologica 15 (3): 113-117 - get paper here
  • Markezich, A.L. 2002. New distribution records of reptiles from Western Venezuela. Herpetological Review 33 (1): 69-74 - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1972. Herpetofauna tobagana. Stuttgarter Beitr. zur Naturkunde nr. 252 22 pp. - get paper here
  • Mijares-Urrutia, A. & Arends R., Alexis 1999. Additional New Regional and Local Records of Amphibians and Reptiles from the State of Falcón, Venezuela. Herpetological Review 30 (2): 115 - get paper here
  • Murphy, John C.; Daniele Salvi, Joana L. Santos, Alvin L. Braswell, Stevland P. Charles, Amaél Borzée & Michael J. Jowers 2019. The reduced limbed lizards of the genus Bachia (Reptilia, Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae); biogeography, cryptic diversity, and morphological convergence in the eastern Caribbean. Organisms Diversity & Evolution - get paper here
  • Powell, Robert and Robert W. Henderson 2017. Notes on the diets of some amphibians and reptiles of the St. Vincent and Grenada Banks (Lesser Antilles). IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 24 (2): 135–138 - get paper here
  • Presch, William 1975. The evolution of limb reduction in the Teiid lizard genus Bachia. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 74 (3): 113-121 - get paper here
  • Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A.; Marcélia B. da Silva, and Jucivaldo D. Lima 2016. A New Species of Bachia Gray 1845 (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Eastern Guiana Shield. Herpetologica 72 (2): 148-156. - get paper here
  • Rivas Fuenmayor, G.; Ugueto, G.; Rivero, R. & Miralles, A. 2005. The Herpetofauna of Isla de Margarita, Venezuela: New Records and Comments. Carib. J. Sci. 41 (2): 346-351
  • RIVAS, GILSON A.; CÉSAR R. MOLINA, GABRIEL N. UGUETO, TITO R. BARROS, CÉSAR L. BAR- RIO-AMORÓS & PHILIPPE J. R. KOK 2012. Reptiles of Venezuela: an updated and commented checklist. Zootaxa 3211: 1–64 - get paper here
  • Roux,J. 1929. Sur deux Reptiles nouveaux du Vénézuela. Verhandlungen dem Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel 40 (2): 29-34
  • Schwartz, A. & Henderson, R.W. 1991. Amphibians and Reptiles of the West Indies. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 720 pp.
  • Señaris, J. Celsa; María Matilde Aristeguieta Padrón, Haidy Rojas Gil y Fernando J. M. Rojas-Runjaic 2018. Guía ilustrada de los anfibios y reptiles del valle de Caracas, Venezuela. Ediciones IVIC, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC). Caracas, Venezuela. 348 pp.
  • Ugueto, G.N. & Rivas, G.A. 2010. Amphibians and Reptiles of Margarita, Coche and Cubagua. Frankfurt Contributions to Natural History, Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, 350 pp
  • Vanzolini,P.E. 1961. Bachia: Especies Brasileiras e conceito generico (Sauria: Teiidae). Papéis Avulsos Zoologia (São Paulo) 14: 193-209 - get paper here
  • Wagler, Jean G. 1830. Natürliches System der Amphibien, mit vorangehender Classification der Säugetiere und Vögel. Ein Beitrag zur vergleichenden Zoologie. 1.0. Cotta, München, Stuttgart, and Tübingen, 354 pp. [1830-1832] - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator