Cnemidophorus espeuti BOULENGER, 1885
Find more photos by Google images search:
Higher Taxa | Teiidae, Teiinae, Gymnophthalmoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Rainbow lizard |
Synonym | Cnemidophorus espeuti BOULENGER 1885 Cnemidophorus lemniscatus espeuti — HARVEY et al. 2012 Cnemidophorus espeuti — MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2013 |
Distribution | Colombia (Providencia and San Andrés) Type locality: Old Providence Island, Colombia |
Reproduction | Bisexual and parthenogenetic forms. |
Types | Holotype: BMNH 1946.8.8.19, formerly 1882.8.8·.1; male |
Diagnosis | |
Comment | Synonymy: Burt (1931) had placed C. espeuti (as well as C. l. gaigei and C. l. ruatanus Barbour) in the synonymy of C. lemniscatus. MCCRANIE & HEDGES 2013 suggested to elevate splendidus, gaigei, and espeuti to full species status. Similar species: C. lemniscatus and other members of the lemniscatus group, distinguished from all other species by the presence of preanal spurs in males and by a higher number of femoral pores (more than 40; Ávila- Pires, 1995). C. l. espeuti differs significantly from the Honduran mainland populations (C. ruatanus) in having a split vertebral stripe (versus stripe continuous in C. ruatanus). Cnemidophorus l. espeuti also differs from C. l. lemniscatus in having a fewer number of circumorbital scales (4–10, x = 6.4 ± 1.8 in C. l. espeuti versus 8–17, x = 12.0 ± 4.0 in C. l. lemniscatus; data from Harvey et al. 2012: 106). |
Etymology | Boulenger named C. espeuti for W. B. Espeut, the person who first successfully introduced the Small Asian Mongoose (Herpestes javanicus [Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire]) to the New World (initially on Jamaica), which caused the extinction of many West Indian reptile species (McCranie & Hedges 2013). |
References |
|
External links |