Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles

The Identity of Cnemidophorus vittatus Boulenger (Reptilia, Lacertilia, Teiidae) with a

Redescription of the Holotype
Author(s): Thomas Vance
Source: Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 12, No. 1 (Feb. 27, 1978), pp. 100-102
Published by: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1563512
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100 NOTES

LITERATURE CITED

Bisbee, C. A., M. A. Baker, A. C. Wilson, I. Hadji-Azimi and M. Fischberg. 1977. Albumin phylogeny for
clawed frogs (Xenopus). Science 195:785-787.
Blair, W. F. 1962. Non-morphological data in anuran classification. Syst. Zool. 11:72-84.
Case, S. M. and M. H. Wake. 1977. Immunological comparisons of Caecilian albumins (Amphibia:
Gymnophonia). Herpetologica 33:94-98.
Jameson, D. L. and R. C. Richmond. 1971. Parallelism and convergence in the evolution of size and shape in
Holarctic Hyla. Evol. 25:497-508.
Maxson, L. 1977. Immunological detection of convergent evolution in the frog Anotheca spinosa
(HYLIDAE). Syst. Zool. 26:72-75.
Maxson, L. R., V. M. Sarich, and A. C. Wilson. 1975. Marsupials, frogs and continental drift. Nature
255:397-400.
and A. C. Wilson. 1974. Convergent morphological evolution detected by studying proteins of
tree frogs in the Hyla eximia species group. Science 185:66-68.
and . 1975. Albumin evolution and organismal evolution in Tree Frogs(Hylidae).
Syst. Zool. 24:1-15.
Ralin, D. B. 1977. Hybridization of Hyla cinerea of the United States and H. arborea savignyi (Amphibia,
Anura, Hylidae) of Israel. J. Herpetology 11:105-106.
Wake, D. B., L. R. Maxson and G. Z. Wurst. 1978. Genetic differentiation, albumin evolution, and their
biogeographic implications in plethodontid salamanders (Genus Hydromantes) of California and
Southern Europe. Evolution (in press).
Wilson, A. C., L. R. Maxson and V. M. Sarich. 1974. Two types of molecular evolution. Evidence from
studies of interspecific hybridization. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 71:2843-2847.

LINDA R. MAXSON, Dept. Genetics and Development, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois
61801, USA.

Accepted 30 June 1977

1978 JOURNAL OF HERPETOLOGY 12(1):98-100

THE IDENTITY OF CNEMIDOPHORUSVITTATUS BOULENGER (REPTILIA,

OF THE HOLOTYPE
TEIIDAE)WITHA REDESCRIPTION
LACERTILIA,
The Bolivian lizard Cnemidophorus vittatus was described in 1902 by George Boulenger
(1902:400) and is known only from the type. Little has been published about it since then.
The following report is intended to clarify its taxonomic status.
The nomenclatural history involving this lizard is very brief. In addition to Boulenger's
original description, Burt (1931:7,21) reallocated C. vittatus to the genus Ameiva, without
justification or redescription. Peters and Donoso-Barros (1970:95) ignored Burt's reallocation,
listing vittatus as a separate species of Cnemidophorus.
The holotype, BMNH 1946.8.31.13 (formerly BMNH 1902.5.29.169), has a lingual sheath
between the tongue and larynx, a character which distinguishes Ameiva from Cnemidophorus
throughout their range (Presch, 1971). This sheath, although prominent, is not as fully
developed as that of Ameiva ameiva. There is a series of folds or longitudinal wrinkles on the
sides of the base of the tongue.
The original description of Cnemidophorus vittatus is as follows: "Nostril between two
nasals. Three larger parietals, and a small outer one on each side; two large supraoculars; 7 or 8
supraciliaries; no frenoorbital, anterior gular scales larger than posterior; a few enlarged
mesoptychial scales. Dorsal scales minutely granular, smooth. Ventral plates in ten longitudinal
series. A number of enlarged preanals, the central one largest. Brachials in three rows,
continuous with postbrachials; antebrachials in two rows. Femorals in six series, one of which is
large; tibials in three series outer largest. Femoral pores 9-10. Caudal scales oblique, diagonally
keeled. Grey above, sides striped black and white, the widest black stripe extending from the

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 NOTES 101

eye to the tail, and reappearing as a line on the canthus rostralis; sides of limbs with black and
white stripes; upper lip and lower parts white."
Also reported were the measurements, as follows: head length 12 mm; width 6 mm; end
of snout to interparietal scale, 8 mm; end of snout to forelimb, 18 mm; snout-vent length,
47 mm; length of forelimb, 17 mm; hind limb, 27 mm; tail 85 mm; total length, 132 mm.
Several characters were not reported by Boulenger. Due to small size, the lizard (a female)
does not appear to be sexually mature; dorsal head scales smooth but asymmetrical; frontal
scale entire; two parietals and one interparietal; supralabials below subocular smaller than
infralabials; sublabials separating posterior chinshields from infralabials smaller than supralabials
or infralabials; two occipitals, not in contact with interparietal; circumorbitals normal,
terminating short of frontal-frontoparietal suture; frontoparietal divided; no preanal spurs; sixty
four granules around midbody; thirty one transverse ventrals; mesoptychials abruptly enlarged;
postantebrachials granular. The lateral caudal scales are imbricate except at the base of the tail
where they tend to be subimbricate. The basal caudoventrals are smooth, although the other
caudal scales are keeled. A middorsal line extends from the posterior margin of the head and
extends down to the anterior margin of the tail. It is eight granules wide at midbody, however
it varies at the shoulders. This line is flanked on either side by a small, wavy and broken line
(one to three granules wide). The dorsolateral lines are two granules in width, the laterals one
to four granules. Spots or blotches are absent on the dorsum, but are faintly visible on the
limbs.
On the basis of this information, it is clear that the specimen Boulenger described as
Cnemidophorus vittatus should be referred to Ameiva. Table 1 compares certain of its
characters with those of other South American members of the genus. The closest specific
affinities of A. vittata appear to
be with A. a. petersii. A spot-
ted pattern is also evident in TABLE1. Brief summaryof meristiccharacters.
the latter form and its head is
marked. This is not noticeable C(

in A. vittata. The gular scales .c cu

are enlarged and there are 2/2 c
CO
a a) I E
supraoculars in A. vittata E
a,
Q. 0
Cu
, aL c
whereas the gular scales are re-
duced and 4/4 supraoculars are a) E> a)
present in A. a. petersii. E E E E
Several problems have
been encountered with this VENTRAL
LONGITUDINAL 10-12 6 10 8 6
taxon. One is that the type- ROWS
locality was given as Paratani,
Bolivia, 2500m, the collector PREANAL abs. abs. abs. pres. abs.
as P. 0. Simmons (a Stanford SPURS
University student). Paratani HEAD
smooth rugose smooth smooth rugose
does not appear on any avail- SCALES
able gazetteer, atlas or map. It FRONTAL
entire divided entire entire fragmented
appears to be a lapsus for SCALES
Parotani, a railroad station on
the Cochabamba-Oruro trail, lo- NO. OF 4/4 4/4 2/2 3/3 2/2
SUPRAOCULARS
cated in the department of
Cochabamba near the city of GULARSCALES No No Yes No No
Capinota. It appears that Sim- ENLARGED
mons collected in southern Bo-
livia, northern Chile and north-
western Argentina (Burt and
Myers, 1942).

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102 NOTES

A second problem is that no other specimens are known. The immaturity of the single
known specimen (juvenile or subadult) leaves uncertain the appearance of adults of either sex,
because the ameivas, like the whiptails and racerunners, are known to exhibit extensive
dimorphism and ontogenetic variation.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.-The author is greatly indebted to A. F. Stimson of the British
Museum of Natural History who provided much of the detailed description and the only
existing photographs of the reptile. Guillermo Rocabado, Vice Consul de Bolivia, supplied the
author with information regarding the type-locality. Donald Ingold of East Texas State
University kindly assisted the author in proof reading the manuscript. Edward Shaffer, also of
East Texas State University, assisted by suppling topographical information.

LITERATURE CITED

Boulenger, G. 1902. Descriptions of new batrachians and reptiles from the Andes of Peru and Bolivia. Ann.
Mag. Nat. Hist. 10(59):394-402.
Burt, C. 1931. A study of the teiid lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus with special reference to their
phylogenetic relationships. U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 154:1-286.
and G. Myers. 1942. Neotropical lizards in the collection of the Natural History Museum of
Stanford University. Stanford Univ. Pub. 8(2):5-52.
Peters, J. and R. Donoso-Barros. 1970. Catalogue of the neotropical Squamata: Part II. Lizards and
amphisbaenians. U.S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 297:1-293.
Presch, W. 1971. Tongue structure of the teiid lizard genera Ameiva and Cnemidophorus with a reallocation
of Ameiva vanzoi. J. Herp. 5(3-4):183-185.

THOMAS VANCE, Biology Department, East Texas State University, Commerce, Texas 75428,
Permanent Address: 108 East Tyler, Ennis, Texas 75119, USA.

Accepted18 Apr. 1977

1978 JOURNAL OF HERPETOLOGY 12(1):100-102

REDISCOVERY OF LAMPROPELTISNITIDA VAN DENBURGH (REPTILIA,

SERPENTES,COLUBRIDAE) IN BAJA CALIFORNIASUR, MEXICO
Lampropeltis nitida was described by Van Denburgh (1895:143). It was based on two
specimens from the Cape Region of Baja California, Mexico, the holotype, California Academy
of Sciences (CAS) 800, collected by Gustav Eisen in the vicinity of San Jose del Cabo, in
September 1892, and the paratype, CAS 1533, taken at the same locality one year later by
Eisen and Vaslit. In May 1911, a third specimen, United States National Museum (USNM)
64585 (formerly American Museum of Natural History [AMNH] 5648), was collected by C. H.
Townsend at Miraflores, Baja California Sur, and was described by Schmidt (1922:690). This
latter specimen was designated as neotype of L. nitida by Slevin and Leviton (1956:548)
because both holotype and paratype had been destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of
1906. This designation was made largely for "clerical" purposes and was not properly
documented with adequate descriptive information so that, under the rules of nomenclature,
the designation is invalid. Further, the designation of a neotype is probably unnecessary
inasmuch as the description and most particularly the well-executed illustration that accom-
panies the description of the new taxon are adequate to establish the significant features of the
taxon.
Despite the many collections that have been made in the Cape Region of Baja California
in recent years, more than 60 have elapsed since the last known specimen of L. nitida was un-
covered. Thus, the discovery on 21 August 1975, of a distinctively patterned adult male
kingsnake, similar to L. nitida, generated our renewed interest in this nearly forgotten

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