Abronia deppii (WIEGMANN, 1828)
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Abronia deppii
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| Higher Taxa | Anguidae (Gerrhonotinae), Diploglossa, Anguimorpha, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | S: Escorpión Arboricola de Deppe E: Deppe’s Arboreal Alligator Lizard |
| Synonym | Gerrhonotus deppii WIEGMANN 1828: 379 Abronia deppii — GRAY 1838: 389 Gerrhonotus Deppii — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 398 Gerrhonotus Deppii — O’SHAUGHNESSY 1873: 45 Gerrhonotus deppii — GÜNTHER 1885: 35 Gerrhonotus deppii — BOULENGER 1885: 269 Abronia deppii — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 196 Gerrhonotus deppii — WERMUTH 1969: 17 Abronia deppei — LINER 1994 Abronia deppii — LINER 2007 |
| Distribution | Mexico (N Guerrero, Mexico, N Morelos) Type locality: Mexico. Restricted to Omilteme, Guerrero, by SMITH & TAYLOR 1950, later restricted to Temascaltepec-Real de Arriba, in the State of Mexico, by SÁNCHEZ-HERRERA & LÓPEZ-FORMENT 1980. |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Lectotype: ZMB 1149 (see also GOOD et al. 1993) |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): Abronia can be distinguished from all other gerrhonotines(Coloptychon, Gerrhonotus, Barisia, Elgaria, and Mesaspis) in the combination of having: (1) the fifth row of temporal scales absent (except, probably anomalously,on one side of one specimen of A. salvadorensis) (present in all other genera); (2)large, well-clawed limbs (smaller limbs in all other genera); and (3) a reduced lateral fold (much better developed in all other genera),particularly between the anterior limb and ear (Campbell & Frost 1993: 98). Diagnosis. This species has (1) the supraauricular scales weakly developed knob-like, having no indication of spines; (2) supranasals not expanded and not in contact at dorsal midline; (3) frontonasal usually in contact with frontal; (4) posterior internasals almost twice as long as anterior internasals (1.8); (5) no canthals;(6) three anterior temporals in each side; (7) parietal separated from supraoculars; (8) single occipital; (9) posterior head scales weakly developed knob-like; (10) anterior supercilliary not contacting the cantholoreal; (11) posterior suboccular separated from the lower primary temporal by the penultimate scale in the supralabial series; (12) preauricular scales slightly enlarged and in one row;(13) two postmentals; (14) posterior infralabials elongated; (15) preauricular scales slightly enlarged; (16) six longitudinal nuchal scale rows; (17) 24-28 transversal dorsal scale rows; (18) 10-12 longitudinal dorsal scale rows; (19) 12-14 longitudinal ventral scale rows; (20) six, sometimes seven, dark dorsal bands. Abronia deppii can be distinguished from the Guerrero population by weakly developed knob-like posterior head scales (Fig. 2); lower anterior temporal in broad contact with antepenultimate supralabial; azygous scale between interparietal and occipital frequently present (about 60% of cases); head width <22 mm in adult males and <18 in adult females; ratio of head width to head length <0.75 in adult males; scale whorls on tail 68-80 (x = 77); infralabial scales 7-8; preauricular scales only slightly enlarged; longitudinal dorsal scale rows 10-11; dorsum with well defined bold black crossbands, confluent and more or less symmetrical on vertebral region; dorsal head coloration with pattern of black and white irregular blotches; ventral color in adult males tends to be reddish, occasionally bright red; upper lips marked with black. Differs from other species of the subgenus Abronia (sensu Campbell and Frost, 1993) by having oblique longitudinal rows of dorsal scales, where fuscolabialis, taeniata, and graminea have parallel longitudinal scale rows,where taeniata and graminea do not; has one lowertemporal contacting postoccular series; and a single occipital, where mixteca and oaxacae have three occipitals and two primary temporals contacting postocular series; has body coloration that it is not uniformly green, where graminea is; has six nuchals, where graminea has four (only juveniles of graminea have bands on the dorsum of the body). (from Flores-Villela & Sánchez 2003: 525) |
| Comment | Distribution: Map in Bogert and Porter 1967: 16. Has been confused with what is now called Abronia martindelcampoi FLORES-VILLELA & SÁNCHEZ-HERRERA 2003 who also redescribed A. deppii. Hence not in the Sierra Madre del Sur, as reported by FLORES-VILLELA & SÁNCHEZ-HERRERA 2003. Type species: Abronia deppii is the type species of the genus Abronia GRAY 1838. There is also a plant genus of the same name. Species groups: Campbell and Frost 1993 erected several subgenera to accommodate species groups within Abronia. Gutiérrez-Rodríguez et al. 2020 defined and briefly diagnosed the species groups in the revised genus Abronia (after synonymization of Mesaspis with Abronia). Good & Schwenk present a table of diagnostic scale characters across the species of the deppii species group. |
| Etymology | Named after one of the collectors, Ferdinand Deppe. The generic name apparently is derived from the Greek word abros meaning "delicate" perhaps in reference to the delicate nature of the tail (Lemos-Espinal & Dixon 2013). Note that there is also a plant genus “Abronia”. |
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