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Gerrhonotus liocephalus WIEGMANN, 1828

IUCN Red List - Gerrhonotus liocephalus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaAnguidae (Gerrhonotinae), Diploglossa, Anguimorpha, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesGerrhonotus liocephalus liocephalus WIEGMANN 1828
Gerrhonotus liocephalus austrinus HARTWEG & TIHEN 1946
Gerrhonotus liocephalus loweryi TIHEN 1948 
Common NamesE: Wiegmann's alligator lizard, Texas Alligator Lizard
S: Culebra con Pata 
SynonymGerrhonotus liocephalus liocephalus WIEGMANN 1828
Gerrhonotus liocephalus WIEGMANN 1828: 381
Gerrhonotus liocephalus liocephalus — COPE 1900: 516
Gerrhonotus tesselatus WIEGMANN 1834: 32
Scincus ventralis PEALE & GREEN 1838: 233
Gerrhonotus tesselatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 405
Pterogasterus ventralis — COPE 1878: 96
Pterogasterus tesselatus — COPE 1878: 96
Gerrhonotus liocephalus — BOULENGER 1885: 275
Gerrhonotus liocephalus liocephalus — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 203
Gerrhonotus liocephalus — WERMUTH 1969: 20
Gerrhonotus liocephalus — GOOD 1988
Gerrhonotus liocephalus — LINER 1994
Gerrhonotus liocephalus — KÖHLER 2000: 43
Gerrhonotus liocephalus — MATA-SILVA et al. 2015
Gerrhonotus liocephalus liocephalus — LANGNER et al. 2019

Gerrhonotus liocephalus austrinus HARTWEG & TIHEN 1946
Gerrhonotus liocephalus austrinus HARTWEG & TIHEN 1946
Gerrhonotus liocephalus austrinus — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 204
Gerrhonotus liocephalus austrinus — WERMUTH 1969: 20

Gerrhonotus liocephalus loweryi TIHEN 1948
Gerrhonotus liocephalus loweryi TIHEN 1948: 302
Gerrhonotus liocephalus loweryi — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 204
Gerrhonotus liocephalus loweryi — WERMUTH 1969: 21
Gerrhonotus liocephalus loweri — LANGNER et al. 2019 
DistributionS USA (Texas),
Mexico (E Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes, Hidalgo [HR 35: 187], Jalisco, Tamaulipas, Nayarit, Veracruz), Guatemala

austrinus: Chiapas. Type locality: 3,200 meters elevation on Cerro Malé, Porvenir, Chiapas.

liocephalus: Central plateau region, from Guanajuato to Guerrero and Oaxaca; Sinaloa, Distrito Federal, México, Puebla, Morelos. Type locality: Mexico. Restricted to Tlapancingo, Oaxaca by SMITH & TAYLOR 1950.

loweryi: see comment

ventralis: Type locality: “mining districts of Mexico”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ZMB 1153 (liocephalus)
Holotype: UMMZ 94921 [austrinus]
Holotype: LSUM (originally LSU 480), paratypes: LSUM [loweryi]
Holotype: USNM 30206 [ophiurus]
Holotype: ZMB 1153 [tesselatus]
Syntypes: (2) ANSP 9026-27 [ventralis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Good 1988: 67, but note that the concept (and content) of Gerrhonotus in Good 1988 was different than today. Ledesma et al. 2021 found that no skull characters are reliably diagnostic for Gerrhonotus (or Elgaria).  
CommentSubspecies: Gerrhonotus liocephalus infernalis BAIRD 1858 has been elevated to species status. Gerrhonotus liocephalus ophiurus COPE 1867 is now considered as a valid species. For a comparison of characters in the subspecies of G. liocephalus see Tihe 1948: 305.

Type species: Gerrhonotus tesselatus WIEGMANN 1834 is the type species of the genus Gerrhonotus WIEGMANN 1828.

Note that FITZINGER (1843) designated Gerrhonotus tesselatus WIEGMANN 1834 as type species of the genus Gerrhonotus WIEGMANN 1828 although the species had not even described at that time. This is not valid according to the code. However, since G. tesselatus is a synonym of G. liocephalus, the species is a valid type of the genus (fide WERMUTH 1965). Pterogaster has been established by PEALE & GREEN (1830-1838?).

The phylogenetic relationships of G. farri, G. lazcanoi, G. lugoi and G. parvus remains uncertain, and their placement in the genus Gerrhonotusmust is tentative (García‐Vázquez et al. 2018).

Distribution: Not listed by COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 for North America. Not in Guatemala fide KÖHLER 2008 (although KÖHLER 2000 reported it from there). Not listed for San Luis Potosí by Lemos-Espinal & Dixon 2013. Not in Coahuila fide Lazcano et al. 2019. Not listed for San Luis Potosí by Lemos-Espinal et al. 2018 (checklist SLP). See map in García‐Vázquez et al. 2018: Fig. 3, Blair et al. 2021: Figure 1.

loweryi: San Luis Potosí. Type locality: Xilitla region, San Luis Potosí, but not listed for San Luis Potosí by Lemos-Espinal et al. 2018 (checklist SLP). 
EtymologyThe species was named in honor or Mr. Lowery, “who has directed the work of the field parties and made the specimens available for study.”

The genus name was derived from the Greek words gerrhon, meaning "wickerwork or screen" and notos, meaning "back," in reference to the gridlike arrangement of the dorsal scales in the type species (Lemos-Espinal & Dixon 2013). 
References
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