Anolis benedikti LOTZKAT, BIENENTREU, HERTZ & KÖHLER, 2011
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Anolis benedikti
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| Higher Taxa | Anolidae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Anolis benedikti LOTZKAT, BIENENTREU, HERTZ & KÖHLER 2011 Norops benedikti — NICHOLSON et al. 2012 Norops benedikti — NICHOLSON et al. 2018 |
| Distribution | Panama, Costa Rica (Cordillera de Talamanca) Type locality: north slope of Cerro Pando, leaving the cattle trail to the right after following it to about 1000 m airline north of the large border monument (Fig. 8D), 8.9333°N, 82.7131°W, 2310 m elevation, Parque Internacional La Amistad (PILA), Bocas del Toro Province, Panama, close to the border with Costa Rica. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: SMF 90149 (Figs. 1H, 5A and F, 6), adult male; collected by Andreas Hertz and Sebastian Lotzkat on 19 November 2009; original field number SL 529. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A medium-sized species (maximum SVL 48.6 mm in males, 48.1 mm in females) of the genus Anolis sensu Poe (2004), that is most similar in external morphology to A. magnaphallus, A. pachypus, A. pseudopachypus, and A. tropidolepis. These four species and A. benedikti share narrow toe pads, long legs (tip of fourth toe of adpressed hind limb reaches to a point anterior to eye), a dark interorbital bar, and usually at least the indication of a lyriform marking on the occipital region, keeled dorsal scales on head and body, weakly keeled ventral scales at midbody, and the lack of enlarged postcloacal scales in males. Anolis benedikti can be distinguished readily from all four aforementioned species by the coloration of the male dewlap which is red with a yellow anterior portion comprising just the anterior margin or, at most, the anterior third of the dewlap (versus solid purplish red in A. magnaphallus and A. tropidolepis, red with a central yellow blotch in A. pachypus, and solid yellow, sometimes grading into orange-yellow on the posterior portion in A. pseudopachypus). In addition, A. benedikti differs from A. magnaphallus, A. pachypus, and A. tropidolepis in having more scale rows between the supraorbital semicircles (usually five or more in A. benedikti, versus four or fewer in A. magnaphallus, A. pachypus, and usually four or fewer, rarely five, in A. tropidolepis), and more scales between supraorbital semicircles and interparietal plate (usually five or more, rarely four, in A. benedikti, versus four or fewer in A. magnaphallus, A. tropidolepis, and usually four or fewer, rarely five, in A. pachypus). Furthermore, A. benedikti differs from A. magnaphallus, A. pachypus, and A. tropidolepis in having a very dark (almost blackish) gray tongue (versus a very light gray tongue in A. magnaphallus, A. pachypus, and A. tropidolepis). At first sight, individuals of A. benedikti might be confused with similarly-colored A. humilis. Yet, regardless of sex or age, individuals of the latter species have at least eight longitudinal rows of greatly enlarged, visibly keeled median dorsal scales that are larger than the ventrals, whereas A. benedikti has a maximum of two slightly enlarged middorsal rows, the scales of which are smaller than the ventrals. Males of A. humilis have a red dewlap with a complete (i.e. bordering the whole dewlap) yellow margin, whereas males of A. benedikti exhibit yellow coloration only on the anterior portion of their otherwise solid red dewlap [LOTZKAT et al. 2011]. |
| Comment | Similar species: A. pachypus, A. magnaphallus and A. tropidolepis. Species group: Norops auratus Species Group (fide Nicholson et al. 2012) |
| Etymology | The specific name is a patronym for Benedikt Stökl, Germany, in recognition of the financial support of taxonomic research provided by Karsten Lutz through the BIOPAT initiative. |
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