Lepidophyma smithii BOCOURT, 1876
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Lepidophyma smithii
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| Higher Taxa | Xantusiidae (Lepidophyminae), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Smith's Tropical Night Lizard S: Lagartija Nocturna de Smith |
| Synonym | Lepidophyma smithii BOCOURT 1876: 402 Lepidophyma flavimaculatum — STUART 1963 (fide VILLA et al. 1988) Akleistops guatemalensis F. MÜLLER 1878: 390 Lepidophyma smithii tehuanae SMITH 1942: 377 Lepidophyma smithii smithii — H. M. SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 152 Lepidophyma flavimaculatum smithii — SAVAGE 1963: 35 Lepidophyma flavimaculatum smithi — STUART 1963 Lepidophyma flavimaculatum smithii — WERMUTH 1965 Lepidophyma flavimaculatum tehuanae — WERMUTH 1965 Lepidophyma smithii — BEZY 1989 Lepidophyma smithii — LINER 1994 Lepidophyma smithii — KÖHLER 2000: 105 Lepidophyma smithii — MATA-SILVA et al. 2015 |
| Distribution | SE Mexico (Guerrero, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Chiapas), Guatemala, El Salvador smithii: Pacific slopes of Chiapas and W Guatemala. Type locality: Tehuantepec, and west coast of Guatemala. Restricted (H. M. SMITH & TAYLOR 1950) to Mazatenango, Guatemala. |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Syntypes: MNHN-RA 4968, MNHN-RA 4968A, MNHN-RA 4323, MNHN-RA 4323A, MNHN-RA 4323B (5 syntype specimens) (smithii) Holotype: USNM 111488 [tehuanae] Lecotype: NMBA = NHMB 3750, female [guatemalensis] |
| Diagnosis | DIAGNOSIS (DIAGNOSTIC CHARACTERS). The species differs from all other Lepidophyma except L. tarascae and L. lineri in lacking a pale spot on the parietal scale in adults (snout–vent length greater than 75 mm); from all except L. tarascae, L. occulor, and L. sylvaticum in having 22 or fewer lateral tubercle rows; and from L. tarascae in having 162 or more dorsals and 44 or more gulars (from BEZY & CAMARILLO 2002). |
| Comment | Synonymy after Wermuth 1965. Distribution partly after SMITH & TAYLOR 1950. Lepidophyma smithii tehuanae SMITH 1942 has been renamed Lepidophyma flavimaculatum tehuanae SMITH 1942 (fide LINER 1994). Habitat: rocks and decomposing plants. Walker (1955) concluded that L. smithii is conspecific with L. flavimaculatum and this arrangement has been followed by several subsequent workers (e.g., Smith, 1973). The ranges of the two forms are separated by only ca. 20 km on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, with L. smithii extending north to Santo Domingo de Guzma´n (5 Santo Domingo Petapa; Goodwin, 1969) and L. flavimaculatum south to El Mogon˜ e´. In this region, the two species differ in number of femoral pores, lateral tubercle rows, and the presence of a pale interparietal spot. Although geographical variation among the localities of these 2 widely distributed species produces overlap in number of femoral pores, the two species consistently differ in two other scale features (Table 1) and in chromosome number (Bezy, 1972). The population of L. smithii found near Puerto Marque´s, Guerrero, is the most divergent in scalation and its systematic status warrants further study (from BEZY & CAMARILLO 2002). Distribution: see map in LARA-TUFIÑO & NIETO-MONTES DE OCA 2021: 331 (Fig. 6). |
| Etymology | Named after Sir Andrew Smith, M.D. (1797–1872; founder of the South African Museum), whose description and figure of Poriodogaster grayi (a junior synonym of L. flavimaculatum) was used by Bocourt (1876) to compare with L. smithii. |
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