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Marisora unimarginata (COPE, 1863)

IUCN Red List - Marisora unimarginata - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Mabuyinae (Mabuyini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Southern Middle America Skink, Central American Mabuya 
SynonymMabuya unimarginata COPE 1863: 187
Mabuya unimarginata — TAYLOR 1956: 302
Mabuya unimarginata — LINER 1994
Mabuya unimarginata — GREER & NUSSBAUM 2000
Mabuya unimarginata — KÖHLER 2000: 92
Mabuya unimarginata — MAUSFELD et al. 2002
Marisora unimarginata — HEDGES & CONN 2012: 119
Marisora unimarginata — MCCRANIE et al. 2020: 338 
DistributionW Costa Rica, Panama

Type locality: “Panama”  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesHolotype: MCZ 5774 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus). Species of the Genus Marisora are characterized by (1) frontoparietals, two (rarely three), (2) supraciliaries, four (occasionally three, five, or six), (3) supraoculars, four (rarely three), (4) prefrontal contact, absent (or contact very rarely), (5) parietal contact, present (or occasionally no contact), (6) rows of nuchals, one (rarely two rows), (7) dorsals + ventrals, 109–131, (8) total lamellae, 184–229, (9) a dark middorsal stripe, absent, (10) dark dorsolateral stripes, usually absent (present in M. alliacea comb. nov.), (11) a dark lateral stripe, present, and (12) dark ventral striping, absent. Species of Marisora are medium to large, with a range of maximum body sizes among the species of 82–95 mm SVL (except for one species, M. magnacornae sp. nov., known from a single 77.4 mm specimen; Table 2).


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CommentRelationships: Mabuya, Marisora, and Aspronema are paraphyletic in the phylogenetic analysis of Pereira & Schrago 2017.

Synonymy: Mabuya unimarginata was listed as synonym of Mabuia aurata in BOULENGER 1887: 189. Pinto-Sánchez et al. (2015) suggested to synonymize unimarginata, brachypoda and alliacea and roatanae into Marisora unimarginata which is rejected by McCranie et al. 2020.

Distribution: reported from Mexico (Oaxaca) by Casas-Andreu et al. 2004 (but probably removed by HEDGES & CONN 2012 by restricting M. unimarginata). Not in Nicaragua fide Sunyer & Martínez-Fonseca 2023 (checklist Nicaragua) although previously reported from Isla Grande del Maíz. See map in McCranie et al. 2020: 317 (Fig. 6).

Type Species: Mabuya unimarginata Cope, 1862:187 is the type species of the genus Marisora HEDGES & CONN 2012.

Similar species: M. brachypoda, M. roatanae.

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species.

Genome: Colston et al. 2025. 
EtymologyProbably named after the lateral stripes, from Latin marginatus, provided with borders.

The genus name (Marisora) is a feminine noun derived from the Latin words maris (sea) and ora (coast, or border), referring to the distribution of this genus occurring predominately in low elevations near the coast (Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific), with relatively few inland and upland localities. Three of the seven species occur exclusively on islands. 
References
  • Barrio-Amorós, Cesar Luis, Michelle Quiroz, Cristian Porras-Ramírez, Rene Villanueva-Maldonado, Alejandro Estrada-García, Abel Batista 2023. Amphibians and reptiles encountered during an expedition to Panama. Reptiles & Amphibians 30 (1): e18359 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1887. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) III. Lacertidae, Gerrhosauridae, Scincidae, Anelytropsidae, Dibamidae, Chamaeleontidae. London: 575 pp. - get paper here
  • CASTIGLIA,RICCARDO; FLAVIA ANNESI, ALEXANDRA M.R. BEZERRA, ANDRÉS GARCÍA & OSCAR FLORES-VILLELA 2010. Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico. Zootaxa 2508: 1–29 - get paper here
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  • Cope, E.D. 1875. On the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica with notes on the herpetology and ichthyology of Nicaragua and Peru. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia N.S. (2) 8: 93-183 [sometimes said to be published 1876 but see Murphy et al. 2007 for clarification]] - get paper here
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