3459
Author
Harvey, Michael B.
Author
Ugueto, Gabriel N.
Author
Gutberlet, Ronald L.
text
Zootaxa
2012
2012-09-07
3459
1
156
journal article
11755334
457C2AD0-E5CF-4A41-B6CB-11722700BC5F
Teiinae Estes, de Queiroz, and Gauthier
Teiinae
Estes, de Queiroz, and Gauthier 1988: 215
.
Type
Genus.—
Teius
Merrem
, designated herein.
Diagnosis
.—From the characters we surveyed, the
Teiinae
are defined by femoral pores continuous with abdominal pores, caudal annuli complete, ventrals in 6–20 longitudinal rows at midbody, postcloacal buttons absent, interangular and intertympanic sulci absent, preaxial and postaxial patches of enlarged brachial scales differentiated, and venter without large melanic blotches. Other defining characters of the subfamily include 25 presacral vertebrae (
Presch 1974a
;
Veronese & Krause 1997
), a single thin pair of infralingual plicae with 0–7 much smaller swollen pairs behind it (
Harris 1985
), and 2n = 46–56 chromosomes, with most large chromosomes acrocentric and with no distinct break between macro and microchromosomes (
Gorman 1970
). The
Teiinae
share two apparent synapomorphies of the trigeminal jaw musculature (
Rieppel 1980
): (1) a large sheet of temporal fascia arising from the entire temporal arch (postorbital and squamosal; the same fascia is much less extensive in the
Tupinambinae
, arising only from the dorsolateral edge of the squamosal and the cephalic condyle of the quadrate) and (2) a more lateral (i.e., relative to the
Tupinambinae
) position of the vertical sheet of the quadrate aponeurosis. Unlike the
Callopistinae
and
Tupinambinae
, the
Teiinae
share fusion of the postorbital and postfrontal, an expanded pterygoid process of the quadrate, a pterygoid flange, presence of a dorsal squamosal process, an expanded clavicle, presence of clavicular hooks, presence of a scapular fenestra, 12 postxiphisternal ribs, and a low median crest on the caudal vertebrae (
Presch 1974a
).
Remarks.—
The subfamily names
Tupinambinae
and
Teiinae
are attributed to
Estes
et al.
(1988)
who elevated
Teiini Presch
and
Tupinambini Presch
to subfamilial rank when defining
Teiidae
. These authors did not designate a
type
genus of the subfamily. Accordingly, we here designate
Teius
as the
type
genus of
Teiinae Estes, de Queiroz, and Gauthier. In
earlier publications (1983a, b), Estes recognized two subfamilies of
Teiidae
: Polyglyphanodontinae including several extinct genera and
Teiinae
including
Teiini
and
Tupinambini sensu
Presch (1974a)
.