Plestiodon brevirostris (GÜNTHER, 1860)
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Plestiodon brevirostris
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | Plestiodon brevirostris brevirostris (GÜNTHER 1860) Plestiodon brevirostris pineus (AXTELL 1960) |
| Common Names | E: Shortnose Skink S: Alicante de Rostro Pequeño |
| Synonym | Mabouia brevirostris GÜNTHER 1860: 442 Eumeces brevirostris — BOCOURT 1879: 439 Eumeces brevirostris — GÜNTHER 1885: 32 Eumeces brevirostris — TAYLOR 1936: 459 Eumeces brevirostris — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 168 Eumeces brevirostris — LINER 1994 Eumeces brevirostris — GRIFFITH, NGO & MURPHY 2000 Plestiodon brevirostris — SCHMITZ et al. 2004 Plestiodon brevirostris — MATA-SILVA et al. 2015 Plestiodon aff. brevirostris — LOC-BARRAGÁN et al. 2024 Plestiodon brevirostris pineus (AXTELL 1960) Eumeces dicei pineus AXTELL 1960: 19 Eumeces brevirostris pineus — DIXON 1969: 14 Plestiodon brevirostris pineus — GARCIA-VÁZQUEZ & FERIA-ORTIZ 2006 Plestiodon brevirostris pineus — LINER 2007 |
| Distribution | Mexico (Guerrero, Morelos, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Puebla, Michoacán, Nayarit) brevirostris: Mexico (Guerrero); Type locality: Oaxaca; restricted to the city of Oaxaca by SMITH & TAYLOR 1950. pineus: Mexico (Coahuila); Type locality: Cañón de Carolina, 1 3 miles east of San Antonio de las Alazanas, Coahuila, México. |
| Reproduction | ovoviviparous (HR 38:81-82, 2007) |
| Types | Holotype: BMNH 1946.8.20.65 (formerly 60.6.17.3) (fide Dixon 1969) Holotype: KU (= UKMNH) 39539, adult male, collected July 6, 1955, by Robert G. Webb. [pineus] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (pineus): A subspecies of Eumeces dicei with rather stout body; maximum, and aver age adult snout-vent lengths, 62.4 and 59.3 mm. respectively; total length of largest speci men examined 129.8 mm. (cf, tail regen.); limbs separated by 7 to 16 (ave. 13.4) scales when appressed; forelimbs averaging 20 percent of snout-vent length in males, 18.2 percent in females; hind limbs averaging 30 percent of SV. length in males, 27 percent in fe males; number of lamellae on fourth toe of pes 11 to 16, averaging 13.4; scales around mid-body 22 to 24 [16-(22), l-(23), 2-(24)]; primary temporals usually fused with upper secondary temporals (98%); parietals not en closing interparietal posteriorly; prefrontals usually in contact (14 of 19 contacting); 4-4 supraoculars; first and second supralabials usually subequal in size; color pattern of trunk light dorsally and dark laterally; two rather wide (about one scale width) dorso lateral light stripes extending from region of internasals on snout to point opposite in sertion of hind leg (less distinct posteriorly); area between light stripes either unicolor olive-gray or with evidence of two or more dark stripes; sides with broad, brownish-black stripes which reach dorsally to third scale row (Fig. 1, B), anteriorly to nares (seldom lighter in temporal area), and posteriorly over both legs to terminate on proximal part of tail; lighter parts of supralabials, chin and anterior gular area usually reddish in living males (yellowish-white in alcohol); belly and sub-caudal surface pigmented with scattered dark specks undertoned with bluish-gray in alcohol, probably lighter in life; tail metallic blue in juveniles, either ground color (brown) or reddish in adults (Axtell 1960). |
| Comment | Subspecies: FERIA-ORTIZ et al. 2011 provide evidence that P. b. brevirostris, P. b. bilineatus, P. b. dicei, and the eastern populations of P. b indubitus (from Morelos, Guerrero, and México) represent distinct species, whereas the western populations of P. b. indubitus (from Colima and Jalisco) represent an undescribed species. The data cannot resolve whether P. b. pineus is conspecific with P. b. dicei or P. b. dicei is a paraphyletic ( = nonexclusive) species relative to an exclusive P. b. pineus. Thus, the status of P. b. pineus remains uncertain. The haplotype phylogeny also suggests that P. b. brevirostris may represent more than one species. BRANDLEY et al. (2012) showed that bilineatus, dicei, and indubitus are paraphyletic with respect to other species and thus need to be split up. Pavón-Vázquez et al. 2018 found 4 distinct lineages within P. brevirostris but did not comment on the status of P. b. pineus. Distribution: not in Jalisco fide CRUZ-SÁENZ et al. 2017. Not listed for San Luis Potosí by Lemos-Espinal et al. 2018 (checklist SLP). Not in Durango fide Lemos-Espinal (2018). Habitat: Plestiodon brevirostris is found in mesic forest and xeric scrub at higher elevations. Group: The P. brevirostris group consists of 14 described species characterized by the lack of a postnasal scale, the possession of a single postmental scale, and a widened scale medially bordering the postgenial scale, namely P. bilineatus, P. copei, P. dicei, P. dugesii, P. indubitus, P. lynxe, P. parviauriculatus; P. lotus; P. colimensis, P. parvulus; P. sumichrasti, P. brevirostris, P. nietoi, and P. ochoterenae (GARCÍA-VÁZQUEZ et al. 2021). |
| Etymology | Named after Latin “brevis, -e” = short and “rostrum” = beak, proboscis, trunk. P. b. pineus was named after Latin pinus = pine tree, for its habitat in mesic coniferous forests. |
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