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Sceloporus malachiticus COPE, 1864

IUCN Red List - Sceloporus malachiticus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaPhrynosomatidae, Sceloporinae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Green Spiny Lizard
G: Stachelleguan 
SynonymSceloporus malachiticus COPE 1864
Sceloporus irazuensis GÜNTHER 1890 (part. fide SMITH 1939)
Sceloporus formosus malachiticus — SMITH 1939: 46
Sceloporus formosus malachiticus — SLEVIN 1942: 466
Sceloporus malachiticus malachiticus — MERTENS 1952: 48
Sceloporus malachiticus — SCHMIDT et al. 1999
Sceloporus malachiticus — KÖHLER 2000: 85
Sceloporus malachiticus — WIENS et a. 2010
Sceloporus malachiticus — CURLIS et al. 2020 
DistributionGuatemala (El Peten), El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama; Antigua; elevation: 830-1780 m

Type locality: “Arriba” (= uplands), Costa Rica.  
Reproductionviviparous 
TypesSyntypes: USNM 101062(5), formerly 12186, earlier 6492, collected by C. H. Riotte.
Syntypes: BMNH 1946.8.10.10-14 (formerly 1885.10.20.2-5), Irazú, Costa Rica, collected by F. D. Godman and O. Salvin. Also 1946.8.10.3-4 (formerly 1889.11.13.114-115), collected in "S. Mexico" by F. D. Godman [irazuensis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A Sceloporus of moderate size, maximum snout-vent measurement 91mm.; a black shoulder spot present, lacking a narrow dorsal extension; dorsal scales 30 to 39, average 35; scales around body 30 to 45, average 37.9; ventral scales 36 to 46, average 42.2; femoral pores 11 to 17, average 14.3; frontal usually separated from interparietal; supraoculars in two irregular series; one or more supraoculars very frequently in contact with median head scales; one canthal or, if two, the first usually forced above canthal ridge; males usually with a light line down the center of each dorsal scale row (Smith 1939: 46).


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CommentDistribution: Not listed for Belize and Mexico by KÖHLER (2000). Not in Honduras fide McCranie 2015 (checklist Honduras). Not in Yucatan state (Mexico) according to GONZÁLEZ-SÁNCHEZ et al. 2017.

Group: S. formosus group (sensu lato, fide PÉREZ-RAMOS & SALDAÑA DE LA RIVA 2008) 
EtymologyThe Latin malus or melinos, "apple," or apple-green," and the Greek chiton, "tunic," and -icus, "pertaining to," are the roots of this word, and undoubtedly refer to the greenish "tunic" of adult males. 
References
  • Acosta-Chaves, Víctor J.; Gerardo Chaves, Juan G. Abarca, Adrián García-Rodríguez, Federico Bolaños 2015. A checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Río Macho Biological Station, Provincia de Cartago, Costa Rica. Check List 11 (6): 1784 - get paper here
  • Bonetti, Mathilde 2002. 100 Sauri. Mondadori (Milano), 192 pp. - get paper here
  • Brongersma, L. D. 1954. On some lizards from the Republic of El Salvador. Konikl. Nederl. Akad. van Wetenschappen (Amsterdam) 57 (2): 165-174
  • Cope, E.D. 1864. Contributions to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 16: 166-181. - get paper here
  • Curlis JD, Fisher EC, Muhic WK, Moy J, Garro-Cruz M, Montero-Ramírez JJ 2020. A survey of the reptiles and amphibians at the University of Georgia Costa Rica field station in San Luis de Monteverde, Costa Rica. Check List 16(6): 1433-1456 - get paper here
  • Duellman, William E. 1966. The Central American herpetofauna: An ecological perspective. Copeia 1966 (4): 700-719 - get paper here
  • Fitch, H. S. 1978. Sexual size differences in the genus Sceloporus. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 51 (13): 441-461 - get paper here
  • Fitch, Henry S. 1973. Population structure and survivorship in some Costa Rican lizards. Occ. Pap. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas 18: 1-41 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. C. L. G. 1885. Reptilia and Batrachia. Biologia Centrali-Américana. Taylor, & Francis, London, 326 pp. [published in parts from 1885-1902; reprint by the SSAR 1987] - get paper here
  • Gutsche, A. 2012. Bewohner des Elfenwaldes: Herpetofauna am Pico La Picucha im Nationalpark Sierra de Agalta, Honduras. Terraria-Elaphe 2012 (5): 68-71 - get paper here
  • Henderson, C.L. 2010. Mammals, Amphibians, and Reptiles of Costa Rica - A field guide. University of Texas Press, Austin, 198 pp.
  • Köhler, G. 2000. Reptilien und Amphibien Mittelamerikas, Bd 1: Krokodile, Schildkröten, Echsen. Herpeton Verlag, Offenbach, 158 pp.
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Köhler, G. & Heimes, P. 2002. Stachelleguane. Herpeton-Verlag (Offenbach), 174 pp.
  • Köhler, Gunther, Fabian Schmidt, Roxane Schröter and Rahel Siemer. 1999. Untersuchungen zur Variation mehrerer Reptilienarten aus El Salvador unter Berücksichtigung der Verwendbarkeit von Pholidosemerkmalen zur individuellen Wiedererkennung. Salamandra 35 (4): 227-242 - get paper here
  • Leaché, A.D. 2010. Species trees for spiny lizards (Genus Sceloporus): Identifying points of concordance and conflict between nuclear and mitochondrial data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54: 162–171 - get paper here
  • Leaché, A.D. & J.W.Sites, Jr. 2009. Chromosome Evolution and Diversification in North American Spiny Lizards (Genus Sceloporus). Cytogenet Genome Res 127: 166-181 - get paper here
  • Lisachov, A. P., Tishakova, K. V., Romanenko, S. A., Molodtseva, A. S., Prokopov, D. Y., Pereira, J. C., ... & Trifonov, V. A. 2021. Whole-chromosome fusions in the karyotype evolution of Sceloporus (Iguania, Reptilia) are more frequent in sex chromosomes than autosomes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376(1833), 20200099 - get paper here
  • Marion, K.R. & O.J. Sexton 1971. The Reproductive Cycle of the Lizard Sceloporus malachiticus in Costa Rica Copeia 1971 (3): 517-526. - get paper here
  • Martínez-Fonseca JG, Holmes IA, Sunyer J, Westeen EP, Grundler MR, Cerda PA, Fernández-Mena MA, Loza-Molina JC, Monagan IV Jr., Nondorf D, Pandelis GG, Rabosky ARD 2023. A collection and analysis of amphibians and reptiles from Nicaragua with new country and departmental records. Check List 20(1): 58-125 - get paper here
  • McCranie, J. & Castañeda, F.E. 2005. The herpetofauna of Parque Nacional Pico Bonito, Honduras. Phyllomedusa 4 (1): 3-16 - get paper here
  • Meister, D. 2010. Haltung und Zucht von Sceloporus malachiticus. Iguana Rundschreiben 23 (1): 10-17
  • Mertens, R. 1952. Die Amphibien und Reptilien von El Salvador. Abh. senckenb. naturf. Ges. (Frankfurt) (No. 487): 120 pp.
  • Pachmann, A. 2012. IN 5 JAHREN UM DIE WELT: Meine zweite herpetologische Exkursion: Lateinamerika. Reptilia (Münster) 17 (93): 16-17 - get paper here
  • Pérez-Ramos, E. & Saldaña de La Riva, L. 2008. Morphological revision of lizards of the formosus group, genus Sceloporus (Squamata: Sauria) of southern Mexico, with description of a new species. Bull. Maryland Herp. Soc. 44 (3): 77-98 - get paper here
  • Reznick, D. & O. Sexton 1986. Annual Variation of Fecundity in Sceloporus malachiticus Journal of Herpetology 20 (3): 457-459. - get paper here
  • Reznick, D., O.J. Sexton & C. Mantis 1981. Initial Prey Preferences in the Lizard Sceloporus malachiticus Copeia 1981 (3): 681-686. - get paper here
  • Savage, J.M. 2002. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna Between Two Continents, Between Two Seas. University of Chicago Press, 934 pp. [review in Copeia 2003 (1): 205]
  • Schmidt, Fabian, Gunther Köhler and Jörg Kreutz. 1999. Morphologie, Verbreitung und Fortpflanzung der Stachelschuppenleguane in El Salvador: 2. Sceloporus malachiticus Cope, 1864. Salamandra 35 (4): 279-288 - get paper here
  • Slevin, J.R. 1942. Notes on a collection of reptiles from Boquete, Panama, with the description of a new species of Hydromorphus. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 23: 463-480 - get paper here
  • Smith, H. M. 1939. The Mexican and Central American lizards of the genus Sceloporus. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Zool. Ser. 26: 1-397. - get paper here
  • Smith, H. M., & BUMZAHEM, C. B. 1955. The identity of the trans-isthmic populations of the malachite tree-lizard (Sceloporus malachiticus Cope). Herpetologica 11: 118-20. - get paper here
  • Solís, J. M., L. D. Wilson, and J. H. Townsend. 2014. An updated list of the amphibians and reptiles of Honduras, with comments on their nomenclature. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1: 123–144 - get paper here
  • Sunyer, Javier 2014. An updated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. Mesoamerican Herpetology 1 (2): 186–202. - get paper here
  • Sunyer, Javier & José́ Gabriel Martínez-Fonseca 2023. An updated country checklist to the amphibians and reptiles of Nicaragua. REVISTA NICARAGÜENSE DE BIODIVERSIDAD (100): 1-25 - get paper here
  • Swierk, L; 2019. Sceloporus malachiticus (Emerald Swift) Coloration. Herpetological Review 50 (1): 145 - get paper here
  • Taylor, E. H. 1956. A review of the lizards of Costa Rica. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 38 (part 1): 3-322 - get paper here
  • Townsend, J. H., L. D. Wilson, M. Medina-Flores, E. Aguilar-Urbina, B. K. Atkinson et al. 2012. A premontane hotspot for herpetological endemism on the windward side of Refugio de Vida Silvestre Texíguat, Honduras. Salamandra 48 (2): 92-114 - get paper here
  • Vences M., Franzen M., Flaschendräger A., Schmitt R. & Regös J. 1998. Beobachtungen zur Herpetofauna von Nicaragua: kommentierte Artenliste der Reptilien. Salamandra 34 (1): 17-42 - get paper here
  • Walters, V. 1953. Notes on Reptiles and Amphibians from El Volcan de Chiriqui, Panamá. Copeia 1953 (2): 125-127 - get paper here
  • Wiens, John J.; Caitlin A. Kuczynski, Saad Arif & Tod W. Reeder 2010. PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS OF PHRYNOSOMATID LIZARDS BASED ON NUCLEAR AND MITOCHONDRIAL DATA, AND A REVISED PHYLOGENY FOR SCELOPORUS. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54: 150-161 - get paper here
  • Wirth, Michael 2011. Lohnende Reiseziele für Amphibien- und Reptilienfreunde in Costa Rica. Draco 12 (45): 22-39 - get paper here
  • Zawadski, M. 2004. Malachit Stachelleguane, Sceloporus malachiticus. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 64 pp. - get paper here
 
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