Sceloporus schmidti JONES, 1927
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Sceloporus schmidti?
Sceloporus schmidti
Find more photos by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Phrynosomatidae, Sceloporinae, Iguania, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Schmidt’s Emerald Lizard S: Schmidt’s Esmeralda |
| Synonym | Sceloporus schmidti JONES 1927: 4 Sceloporus formosus smaragdinus — SMITH 1939: 42. Sceloporus malachiticus — MEYER 1969: 252 (in part) Sceloporus smaragdinus — KÖHLER & HEIMES 2002: 135 (in part) Sceloporus smaragdinus — BELL et al. 2003: 153. Sceloporus schmidti — MCCRANIE 2015: 369 Sceloporus schmidti — MCCRANIE 2018: 311 |
| Distribution | Honduras, elevation from 600 to about 2,240 m Type locality: Mountain camp west of San Pedro, Honduras, 4500 ft. (elevation). |
| Reproduction | viviparous (ovoviviparous) |
| Types | Lectotype: UTA R- 42636; designated by McCranie 2018: 311; Holotype: FMNH 5214, collected 5 May 1923 by Karl P. Schmidt; lost fide Smith 1939 and McCranie 2018. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: The strongly keeled and mucronate dorsal scales, dorsally compressed body, and presence of femoral pores distinguishes Sceloporus schmidti from all remaining Honduran lizards, except the other Sceloporus. Sceloporus squamosus and S. variabilis have a pale brown or cream dorsolateral longitudinal body stripe and S. variabilis also has a postfemoral dermal pocket (versus pale stripe and dermal pocket absent in S. schmidti). The three described species of the S. malachiticus complex (S. esperanzae, S. hondurensis, and S. schmidti) are more difficult to distinguish from one another, but S. schmidti has a tendency for having more dorsal head scale fragmentation. Sceloporus esperanzae and S. hondurensis also differ from S. schmidti in having paired prefrontals that are usually not separated by a small azygous scale, having 3–4 scales separating the welldeveloped canthals medially, and lacks a dark brown midventral line (versus lateral frontonasals usually medially separated by small scale[s], anterior frontal usually divided, 5–6 scales between large canthals, and dark midventral line present, at least posteriorly in female S. schmidti). Sceloporus esperanzae males also lack black bars bordering the abdominal semeions, with those semeions poorly separated, or not separated in alcohol (versus black bars and well-developed semeions present in S. schmidti). The extralimital (Guatemala to Mexico) S. acanthinus differs in molecular analysis results, has a wide or narrow nuchal collar, has a single row of enlarged supraocular scales, and has contact between 1–2 enlarged supraoculars and parietal scales (versus only a short scapular band present, 2 rows of enlarged supraocular scales, and lacking contact between an enlarged supraocular and a parietal scale in S. schmidti; those data for S. acanthinus from Pe ́rezRamos and Saldaña-de La Riva, 2008). The also extralimital (Guatemala and Mexico) S. smaragdinus is distinguished from S. schmidti in molecular phylogenetic results, plus in having 50–58 dorsals, having 48 scales around the midbody, a single row of enlarged supraoculars, and having 15–17 femoral pores (versus 35–40 dorsals, 37–47 scaled around midbody, 2 somewhat irregular rows of supraoculars, and 10–14 femoral pores in S. schmidti; those data for S. smaragdinus from Pérez-Ramos and Saldaña-de La Riva, 2008) (from McCranie 2018: 314). |
| Comment | Synonymy: “Sceloporus schmidti (long considered a junior synonym of S. smaragdinus Bocourt 1873 [p. 1]) has been revalidated for the extreme northwestern Honduran populations” fide MCCRANIE 2015: 369 and MCCRANIE 2018. |
| Etymology | This Latin genitive singular honors the late Karl Patterson Schmidt, who worked at the American Museum of Natural History 1917-1922, and at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, from 1922-1955. Author, editor, and bibliophile, he was known as the Dean of American herpetologists for many years. |
| References |
|
| External links |