The Amphibians and Reptiles of Michoacan, Mexico Part 15

~Eumeces parvulus~ Taylor

_Eumeces parvulus_ Taylor, Proc. Biol. Soc. Was.h.i.+ngton, 46:175, October 26, 1933.--Tepic, Nayarit, Mexico.

El Ticuiz; La Placita; Pomaro (2); San Pedro Naranjestila (3).

Aside from the specimens reported by Peters (1954:17), one other specimen was obtained at El Ticuiz. It has 22 scale rows, 3 supraoculars in contact with the frontal, 2 postl.a.b.i.als, and a unicolored olive-tan dorsum. In life the anterior dorsolateral stripes were pale pinkish tan, the l.a.b.i.als cream color, the throat white, and the tail pale blue. All specimens were found in semi-deciduous broad-leaf forest at elevations of less than 500 meters on the seaward slopes of the Sierra de Coalcoman.

~Ameiva undulata sinistra~ Smith and Laufe

_Ameiva undulata sinistra_ Smith and Laufe, Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull., 31 (1):59, May 1, 1946.--Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico.

Apatzingan (9); 19 km. S of Arteaga (3); Barranca de Bejuco (2); Coahuayana (6); Coalcoman (3); El Ticuiz (10); La Placita (2); Limoncito (3); Ostula (2); Playa Azul; Salitre de Estopila; San Juan de Lima (2); San Pedro Naranjestila (4).

Six males and six females from the Tepalcatepec Valley have more femoral pores than do 16 males and nine females from the coastal lowlands; the ranges and average number of femoral pores in the former are 40-50 (44.8) for males and 38-40 (38.6) for females; males from the coast have 34-44 (39.2), and females have 32-40 (36.2) femoral pores. In all specimens the number of lamellae beneath the fourth toe varies from 26 to 33 (29.7). In life juveniles have a pale olive-tan dorsum and a dorsolateral dark band, superimposed on which is a row of darker brown spots. The dorsolateral band is bordered below by a narrow cream-colored stripe. The tail is tan above and grayish white below; the belly is pale bluish white. Adult males are brilliantly colored in life. A male having a snout-vent length of 108 mm. had a rusty brown dorsum and bright blue bars on the flanks separated by dark brown inters.p.a.ces. The side of the head was pale green, and the chin and throat were golden yellow. In some specimens the throat is orange. Juveniles and subadults have dark flecks on the brown or tan middorsal area, but these are absent in the largest males.

This species inhabits the heavily wooded areas in the lowlands to elevations of about 950 meters. In the Tepalcatepec Valley it has been found only in gallery forests along streams. In both the Tepalcatepec Valley and the coastal lowlands there is a noticeable absence of large adults in the dry season.

~Cnemidophorus calidipes~ Duellman

_Cnemidophorus calidipes_ Duellman, Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool.

Univ. Michigan, 574:1, December 23, 1955.--Capirio, Michoacan, Mexico.

Apatzingan (56); 12-20 km. S of Apatzingan (5); 19 km. E of Apatzingan (5); 25 km. S of Arteaga; Capirio (57); El Espinal (13); Jazmin (9); 11 km. S of Lombardia; Nueva Italia.

This small, distinctive species of the _s.e.xlineatus_-group of _Cnemidophorus_ was discovered in the Tepalcatepec Valley in 1955 (Duellman, 1955); subsequent field studies showed it to be widespread in the valley (Duellman, 1960c). One specimen (KU 29747) is from the relatively arid, low Pacific slope of the Sierra de Coalcoman, 25 kilometers south of Arteaga. All other specimens have been taken at elevations of 200 to 650 meters in the Tepalcatepec Valley, where the species characteristically inhabits the open scrub forests of the valley floor, especially the _Cercidium-Prosopis-Apoplanesia_ a.s.sociations, where there is a spa.r.s.e growth of gra.s.ses. In this habitat it is most frequently seen in a.s.sociation with _Cnemidophorus costatus zweifeli_ and _C. deppei infernalis_.

Aside from the characters given in Table 5, _Cnemidophorus calidipes_ differs from other species of _Cnemidophorus_ in Michoacan by possessing a complete (or nearly so) supraorbital semicircle-series of granules; in other species the granules seldom extend anteriorly beyond the posterior border of the frontal.

~Cnemidophorus communis communis~ Cope

_Cnemidophorus communis_ Cope, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., 17:95, 1877.--No type locality given; type locality restricted to Colima, Colima, Mexico, by Zweifel (1959a:74).

_Cnemidophorus communis communis_, Zweifel, Bull. Amer. Mus.

Nat. Hist., 117:74, April 27, 1959.

Aguililla (2); Apatzingan (6); 13 km. S of Arteaga (2); 19 km. S of Arteaga (3); Capirio (3); Coahuayana (3); Coalcoman (44); El Ticuiz; between El Ticuiz and Ojos de Agua de San Telmo; La Placita (6); Pomaro (2); Rio Cachan; Salitre de Estopila; San Juan de Lima.

The specimens from Coalcoman and the coastal localities were referred to _Cnemidophorus sacki copei_ by Peters (1954:18) and Duellman (1954b:12).

Zweifel (1959a) referred these specimens to _Cnemidophorus communis communis_ and pointed out the probable sympatry of _C. communis_ and _C.

costatus_ (= _sacki_ of Zweifel) in the Tepalcatepec Valley.

There is considerable geographic variation in the number of dorsal granules around the midbody. Sixteen specimens from the coastal regions of Michoacan have 129-146 (136.3) granules; nine from the Tepalcatepec Valley have 124-137 (128.3), and 44 from Coalcoman at an elevation of 950 meters in the Sierra de Coalcoman, intermediate geographically between the coast and the Tepalcatepec Valley, have 105-144 (119.7). The number of granules in specimens from the coast of Michoacan compares favorably with the range of 118-154 (137.8) for 34 specimens from Colima, Colima (Zweifel, 1959a:107). Aside from the characters given in Table 5, _C. communis communis_ can be distinguished from other members of the _Cnemidophorus s.e.xlineatus_-group (_calidipes_, _costatus_, and _scarlaris_) by its relatively small post-antebrachial scales.

TABLE 5.--COMPARISON OF THE TEN SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF CNEMIDOPHORUS IN MICHOACaN (SCALE COUNTS ARE FOR SPECIMENS FROM MICHOACaN ONLY)

----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- |Dorsal |Femoral| Adult color | Throat | Maximum Species |granules| pores | pattern | color |snout-vent | | | | | length ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _calidipes_ | 66-86 |31-47 |Light brown dorsum| Pink | 79 mm.

| (75) |(39) |with vertical blue| | | | |bars and spots | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _communis |105-146 | 38-52 |Green dorsum with | Pink | 135 mm.

communis_ |(124) | (44) |six rows of yellow| | | | |spots | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _costatus | 97-102 |37-43 |Cross-bars | Pink | 126 mm.

occidentalis_ | (99) |(39) |anteriorly and | | | | |pale spots | | | | |posteriorly | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _costatus |91-117 |32-49 |Lateral and |Pink with | 132 mm.

zweifeli_ |(106) |(41) |dorsolateral rows |blue spot | | | |of spots; | | | | |paravertebrals | | | | |fused with pale | | | | |green middorsum | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _deppei deppei_ |116-117 |37-38 |Green | Black | 93 mm.

|(116) |(37) |paravertebral and | | | | |dorsolateral | | | | |stripes; lateral | | | | |stripe broken into| | | | |row of bluish | | | | |spots | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _deppei |91-120 |31-43 |Green | Black | 84 mm.

infernalis_ |(101) |(36) |paravertebral and | | | | |dorsolateral | | | | |stripes; broad | | | | |cream lateral | | | | |stripe; reddish | | | | |flanks | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _lineatissimus |108-140 |32-47 |Paravertebral |Pink and | 98 mm.

exoristus_ |(122) |(39) |stripes fused with|black | | | |yellow middorsal| | | | |stripe; vertical | | | | |bars on flanks | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _lineatissimus |117-126 |32-37 |Eight distinct |Bluish-pink| 96 mm.

lineatissimus_ |(121) |(35) |stripes plus |and black | | | |partially fused | | | | |vertebrals | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _lineatissimus |126-164 |32-48 |Broad middorsal |Pink and | 106 mm.

lividus_ |(148) |(38) |stripe; |black | | | |paravertebrals | | | | |distinct; blue | | | | |lateral spots | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+---------- _scalaris_ | 80-92 |32-41 |Six distinct cream|Orange-pink| 95 mm.

| (86) |(35) |stripes; tan spots| | | | |in dark fields | | ----------------+--------+-------+------------------+-----------+----------

Although this is the largest species of _Cnemidophorus_ in Michoacan (adult males attain a snout-vent length of 135 mm.), it is neither widespread nor abundant. On the coastal lowlands it occurs primarily with _Cnemidophorus lineatissimus lividus_. In the coastal lowlands there is little open scrub forest, a type of habitat that seems to be preferred by _C. communis communis_. In the Tepalcatepec Valley, _C.

communis communis_ occurs in the open scrub forest with the more abundant large species _C. costatus_ (subspecies _zweifeli_). Only in the scrub forest in the Coalcoman Valley, where no other species of _Cnemidophorus_ occurs, is _C. communis communis_ abundant.

~Cnemidophorus costatus occidentalis~ Gadow

_Cnemidophorus communis occidentalis_ Gadow, Proc. Zool.

Soc. London, 1906, 1:339, August 23, 1906.--Type locality restricted to Ixtlan, Nayarit, Mexico, by Smith and Taylor (1950b:182).

_Cnemidophorus costatus occidentalis_, Zweifel, Copeia, No.

1:98; March 17, 1961.

Jiquilpan (4).

Only four specimens from the extreme northwestern part of the state are referable to this subspecies. These have 97 to 102 dorsal granules at midbody and lack the blue gular band or spot characteristic of the subspecies in the Tepalcatepec Valley. Probably _C. costatus occidentalis_ ranges throughout the Chapala depression, but to the east it is replaced by _Cnemidophorus scalaris scalaris_.

~Cnemidophorus costatus zweifeli~ Duellman

_Cnemidophorus sacki zweifeli_ Duellman, Univ. Kansas Publ.

Mus. Nat. Hist., 10:589, May 2, 1960.--Capirio, Michoacan, Mexico.

Apatzingan (107); Buenavista (3); Capirio (31); Charapendo (12); Chinapa (2); 19 km. S of Corralito (3); Jazmin (2); between La Playa and Volcan Jorullo (2); Limoncito (3); 14 km. S of Lombardia (11); Nueva Italia (15); Rio Marquez, 10 km. S of Lombardia (2); Rio Marquez, 13 km. SE of Nueva Italia; Tafetan (18); 14 km. E of Tepalcatepec (2); Tzitzio (11); 19 km. S of Tzitzio; Volcan Jorullo (5); Ziracuaretiro; Zirimicuaro.

These lizards were referred to _Cnemidophorus sacki copei_ by Duellman (1954b:12 and 1955:6); Duellman (1960a) described the subspecies _zweifeli_ and a.s.signed it to _Cnemidophorus sacki_. Zweifel (1961:98) used the specific name C. _costatus_ for the whiptails on the southwestern part of the Mexican Plateau (_C. c. occidentalis_). Since _occidentalis_ and _zweifeli_ are conspecific, the combination _C.

costatus zweifeli_ is used here for the population inhabiting the Tepalcatepec Valley.

This lizard is abundant in the Tepalcatepec Valley, where it lives in open and dense scrub forest, usually at elevations of less than 1000 meters. Throughout the valley it is found in a.s.sociation with _Cnemidophorus deppei infernalis_, and in the lower parts of the valley it also is a.s.sociated with _Cnemidophorus calidipes_. Observations made in the dry season indicate that large adults are not active at that time.

On the coastal lowlands and in the valleys in the Sierra de Coalcoman _Cnemidophorus costatus zweifeli_ is replaced by _C. communis communis_.

To the east in the Balsas Basin _C. costatus zweifeli_ intergrades with _C. costatus costatus_.

~Cnemidophorus deppei deppei~ Wiegmann

_Cnemidophorus deppei_ Wiegmann, Herpetologia Mexicana, p.

29, 1834.--Mexico. Type locality restricted to Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico, by Smith and Taylor (1950b:179).