| Higher Taxa | Gymnophthalmidae (Cercosaurinae), Sauria, Gymnophthalmoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Common Venezuelan water teiid, Roze's Neusticurus
S: Lagartijo acuático de Racenis, Maskani |
| Synonym | Neusticurus racenisi ROZE 1958: 252
Neusticurus racenisi — PETERS et al. 1970: 207
Neusticurus racenisi — AVILA-PIRES 1995: 436
Neusticurus racenisi — MYERS & DONNELLY 1997
Neusticurus cf. racenisi— BARRIO-AMOROS & BREWER-CARIAS 2008 |
| Distribution | Venezuela (Bolivar), Brazil (Roraima)
Type locality: Auyantepui, Estado Bolivar, Venezuela.
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| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: AMNH 61008 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Neusticurus with short snout, tympanum deeply recessed within an external auditory meatus, lower eyelid with low-translucent disc of 4-8 palpebrals. Prefrontals, frontal and frontoparietals divided innumerous scales which formin part a pair of supraorbital semicircles. Back without prominent tubercles, although with some longitudinal rows of slightly enlarged scales; 101-129 (114.9 ± 9.8) scales along a vertebral line. Flanks with small scales. Ventrals i n 29-30 transverse rows. Tail compressed, with transverse rows of tubercles separated by 3-4 rows of smaller scales; only distally there is a low double dorsal crest. Verticils distinct on tail, with two transverse rows of ventral scales corresponding to 4-6 transverse rows of scales on the sides (Avila-Pires 1995). |
| Comment | Synonymy: Uzzell (1966) erroneously considered N. racenisi to be conspecific with N. tatei. Van Devender (1967) recognized N. racenisi and N. tatei as separate species. Avila-Pires (1995) and Donnelly and Myers (1991) provided redescriptions of N. racenisi. |
| Etymology | Named after Dr. Janis Racenis (1915-1980), a Latvian entomologist, geographer, ornithologist, and ecologist who emigrated from the Ukraine to Venezuela and worked at the Institute of Tropical Zoology, Faculty of Sciences , Universidad Central de Venezuela. |
| References |
- Avila-Pires, T.C.S. 1995. Lizards of Brazilian Amazonia (Reptilia: Squamata). Zoologische Verhandelingen 299: 1-706 - get paper here
- Avila-Pires, Teresa C. S. and Laurie J. Vitt. 1998. A new species of Neusticurus (Reptilia: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Rio Juruá, Acre, Brazil. Herpetologica 54 (2):235-245. - get paper here
- Barrio-Amorós, César L. & Brewer-Carias, Charles 2008. Herpetological results of the 2002 expedition to Sarisari–ama, a tepui in Venezuelan Guayana, with the description of five new species. Zootaxa 1942: 1-68 - get paper here
- Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
- Dixon J R; Lamar W W 1981. A new species of microteiid lizard (genus Neusticurus) from Colombia. Journal of Herpetology 15 (3): 309-314. - get paper here
- Donnelly M A; Myers C W 1991. Herpetological results of the 1990 Venezuelan Expedition to the summit of Cerro Guaiquinima, with new tepui reptiles. American Museum Novitates (3017): 1-54 - get paper here
- Marques-Souza S, Prates I, Fouquet A, et al. 2018. Reconquering the water: Evolution and systematics of South and Central American aquatic lizards (Gymnophthalmidae). Zoologica Scripta 47: 255–265 - get paper here
- Myers, Charles W.;Donnelly, Maureen A. 1997. A Tepui Herpetofauna on a Granitic Mountain (Tamacuari) in the Borderland Between Venezuela and Brazil: Report from the Phipps Tapirapecó Expedition. American Museum Novitates (3213): 1-71 - get paper here
- RIBEIRO-JÚNIOR, MARCO A. & SILVANA AMARAL 2017. Catalogue of distribution of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Brazilian Amazonia. IV. Alopoglossidae, Gymnophthalmidae. Zootaxa 4269 (2): 151-196 - get paper here
- Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A. & Silvana Amaral 2016. Diversity, distribution, and conservation of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) in the Brazilian Amazonia. Neotropical Biodiversity, 2:1, 195-421 - get paper here
- 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
- Roze, J. A. 1958. Resultados zoologicos de la expedicion de la Universidad Central de Venezuela a la region del Auyante'pui en la Guyana Venezolana, Abril de 1956. 5. Los reptiles del Auyantepui, Venezuela, basandose en las colecciones de las expediciones de Phelps-Ta Acta Biol. Venezuelica 2: 243-270.
- Van Devender, T. R. 1969. Resurrection of Neusticurus racenisi (Sauria, Teiidae). Journal of Herpetology 3 (1-2): 105-107 - get paper here
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