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Cercosaura argulus PETERS, 1862

IUCN Red List - Cercosaura argulus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaGymnophthalmidae (Cercosaurinae), Sauria, Gymnophthalmoidea, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: White-lipped Cercosaura
Portuguese: Lagarto-do-Folhiço 
SynonymCercosaura (Pantodactylus) argulus PETERS 1863: 184
Prionodactylus argulus — BOULENGER 1885: 391
Prionodactylus holmgreni ANDERSSON 1914: 9
Prionodactylus holmgreni — WERNER 1916: 307
Prionodactylus columbiensis WERNER 1917: 306
Prionodactylus argulus — UZZELL 1970: 235 (part)
Prionodactylus argulus — PETERS et al. 1970: 235
Prionodactylus argulus — DUELLMAN 1978: 220
Prionodactylus argulus — DIRKSEN & DE LA RIVA 1999
Prionodactylus argulus — LEHR 2002: 74
Prionodactylus argulus — PIANKA & VITT 2003: 69
Cercosaura argulus — DOAN 2003
Cercosaura argula — TORRES-CARVAJAL et al. 2015
Cercosaura argula — ECHEVARRIA et al. 2015
Cercosaura argulus — STURARO et al. 2017
Cercosaura argula — TORRES-CARVAJAL et al. 2019 
DistributionColombia (Llanos Orientales de Colombia, Amazonía; Valle del Río Magdalena; Huila, Tolima, Cundinamarca, Boyaca, Caldas; Cauca y Valle under 1500 m elevation), Ecuador, Bolivia (Cochabamba, La Paz, Santa Cruz, Beni), French Guiana, Peru (Pasco etc.), Brazil (Amazonas, E Para, Rondonia, Acre, Maranhão), Suriname (?), Guyana (?)

Elevation: 10–1800 m (DOAN & LAMAR 2012).

Type locality: “Umgebung von Sta. Fé de Bogotá” [= Cundinamarca, Colombia]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ZMB 4555 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Frontonasal divided. Loreal i n contact with supralabials. Scales around midbody 27-35. Males with 12-20, females with 2-6, pores in total, none i n preanal position; the pores from two sides separated by four ventrals in a transverse row. Subdigital lamellae not or only slightly tuberculate, 16-22 under fourth toe. A sharp delimitation o n sides of head, usually just above supralabials, between a brown dorsal surface and a white ventral surface; lower flanks white, continuous with white belly (from Avila-Pires 1995: 454).


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CommentSynonymy: P. oshaughnessyi has been synonymized with P. argulus by UZZELL (1973) and DOAN 2003. However, some authors continued to treat P. oshaughnessyi as valid species, e.g. Pellegrino et al. (2001), Avila-Pires et al. 2009. Torres-Carvajal et al. 2015 found argulus and oshaughnessyi as (weakly) separated genetically and monophyletic although their sampling was somewhat biased (with only 2 specimens of argulus) and all specimens of oshaughnessyi being from a relatively small geographic area. We accept oshaughnessyi given that it was also considered as distinct by Sturaro et al. 2017. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “argulus” (meaning: small spot, probably in allusion to the ocelli in this species), a noun in supposition, hence it does not change when it is moved to another genus that may have a different gender. See Sturaro et al. 2017 for details.

Prionodactylus oshaughnessyi was named after A. W. E. O’Shaughnessy, herpetologist of the British Museum.  
References
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