A systematic revision of Neotropical lizards in the clade Hoplocercinae (Squamata: Iguania)
Author
Torres-Carvajal, Omar
Author
Etheridge, Richard
Author
Queiroz, Kevin De
text
Zootaxa
2011
2752
1
44
journal article
48132
10.5281/zenodo.207073
a3815507-6100-464e-aaf6-60d6820a1eec
1175-5326
207073
Enyalioides laticeps
(
Guichenot 1855
)
Proposed standard English name: broad-headed woodlizards
Proposed standard Spanish name: lagartijas de palo de cabezonas
Enyalus laticeps
Guichenot (1855:20)
.
Holotype
: MHNP 6821, from “Fonteboa, upper Amazon,
Brazil
”;
Duméril (1856:529)
.
Enyalus planiceps
Guichenot (1855:21)
.
Syntypes
: MHNP 6822, 6822a, from “Fonteboa, upper Amazon,
Brazil
,” synonymy
fide
Boulenger (1885:113)
.
Enyalius coerulescens
Cope (1876:169)
.
Holotype
: ANSP 11382, no specific
type
locality given, restricted to “the Amazon from Santarem to
Peru
” (
Gans & Vanzolini 1953
), synonymy
fide
Peters & Donoso-Barros (1970:115)
upon suggestion of
Gans & Vanzolini (1953:127)
.
Enyalius caerulescens
Boulenger (1885:120)
;
Burt and Burt (1933:25)
. Misspelling of
Enyalius coerulescens
(
Cope 1876
)
. Synonymy
fide
Peters & Donoso-Barros (1970:115)
upon suggestion of
Gans & Vanzolini (1953:127)
.
Enyalioides laticeps
Boulenger (1885:113)
;
Burt & Burt (1930
:9
; 1931:266; 1933:24);
Peters & Donoso-Barros (1970:114)
.
Enyalioides festae
Peracca (1897:3)
.
Syntypes
: MZUT 2169, MSNG 36123, from “valley of Rio Santiago,
Ecuador
,” synonymy
fide
Burt & Burt (1931:228)
.
Enyalioides laticeps laticeps
Burt & Burt
(1930:9; 1933:24);
Peters & Donoso-Barros (1970:115)
. Subspecies rejected by
Avila-Pires (1995:30)
.
Enyalioides laticeps festae
Burt & Burt
(1931:228; 1933:24);
Peters & Donoso-Barros (1970:115)
. Subspecies rejected by
Avila-Pires (1995:30)
.
FIGURE 5.
Distribution of
Enyalioides cofanorum
(dots) and
E. rubrigularis
(triangles).
Diagnosis.
This species can be distinguished from other species of
Enyalioides
by having caudal scales that are relatively homogeneous in size on each caudal segment; in all other species of
Enyalioides
, the dorsal and lateral caudals increase in size posteriorly on each caudal segment, and the largest (posteriormost) caudals are mucronate or have some kind of projection (
Fig. 3
). In addition, most male specimens of
E. laticeps
have a longitudinal white, cream, or orange stripe 2–3 scales wide that extends from the commisure of mouth to a point below the tympanum (
Fig. 4
).
Description.
(1) dorsal head scales conical or multicarinate, strongly projecting dorsally; (2) posterior superciliaries not enlarged relative to adjacent scales; (3) scales on lateral edge of skull roof just posterior to superciliaries sometimes (50%) slightly more projecting than adjacent scales; the projection is more pronounced in adults; (4) one or two enlarged pretympanic scales present; (5) gular scales conical or multicarinate, strongly projecting ventrally; (6) dorsal and lateral neck scales similar in size, mostly granular or conical; (7) vertebrals larger than adjacent dorsals, forming distinct raised middorsal crest that extends only onto anterior end of tail as a pair of indistinct crests; (8) nuchal region with continuous, single middorsal crest; (9) dorsals distinctly keeled and homogeneous in size; (10) longitudinal row of raised, enlarged scales between dorsals and flank scales rarely (16.7%) present; when present this row is continuous; (11) scales on flanks granular, homogeneous in size, and slightly smaller than dorsals; (12) ventrals usually (71.4%) keeled; (13) fore limb scales keeled dorsally and ventrally; (14) hind limb scales keeled dorsally and ventrally; scattered enlarged scales absent; dorsal scales of pes homogeneous in size; (15) caudals homogeneous (i.e., caudal segments inconspicuous), not increasing considerably in size posteriorly on each segment (6–8 scales in lateral view), not modified as conspicuous spines (
Fig. 3
); (16) tail nearly circular in cross section. Meristic and morphometric characters are presented in
Table 1
.
FIGURE 6.
Distribution of
Enyalioides heterolepis
(triangles) and
E. laticeps
(dots).
Coloration in life
(
Fig. 4
). Dorsum and flanks green (various tones) or brown, usually with irregular, scattered light spots, or a reticulate brown or reddish-brown pattern; some specimens with a diagonal light bar on the scapular region; longitudinal white, cream, or orange stripe 2–3 scales wide extending from the commisure of mouth to a level below the tympanum in some male specimens; lips and chin pale green is some specimens; gular region in males with longitudinal brown, reddish-brown, bluish, or orange streaks, and a large brown or black medial blotch at the level of the gular fold; gular region in females usually cream or reddish cream without streaks or blotches; venter orange in adult males and pinkish tan or cream in females, with a longitudinal series of dark brown or black short bars or streaks laterally in some specimens; iris brown with yellow or greenish yellow ring around pupil (
Duellman 1978
,
2005
;
Avila-Pires 1995
; Vitt & de la
Torre 1996
). Juveniles pale green or tan with brown diagonal marks on body, white throat, and creamy-tan venter (
Duellman 1978
). Similar to other species of
Enyalioides
,
E. laticeps
displays metachromatism consisting of replacing green with brown tones when disturbed.
Natural history.
This species is more abundant in primary than secondary forests; during the day it has been observed mostly on trunks of small trees with diameters less than
15 cm
, whereas at night it usually sleeps horizontally on branches or palm fronds
1.5 m
or more above ground (
Duellman 1978
). This species uses crypsis as the main predator avoidance mechanism, although some individuals run away to hide under logs or in holes in the ground (
Dixon & Soini 1986
; Vitt & de la
Torre 1996
). Prey items of
Enyalioides laticeps
consist mostly (70.4%) of spiders, caterpillars, and beetle larvae (
Duellman 1978
); other common prey items include grasshoppers, crickets, and earthworms (Vitt & de la
Torre 1996
). Clutch size varies between 5–
7
eggs 15.0–
16.6 mm
long (
Duellman 1978
; Vitt & de la
Torre 1996
); females with 10–11 oviductal eggs were found between April-August (
Dixon & Soini 1986
).
Distribution.
Enyalioides laticeps
occurs throughout the western Amazon basin at elevations between
80– 1600 m
in
Colombia
,
Ecuador
,
Peru
, and
Brazil
(
Fig. 6
); it might also occur in
Bolivia
(
Langstroth 2005
). This species is known to occur in sympatry with
E. cofanorum
,
E. microlepis
,
E. praestabilis
in
Ecuador
and
E. palpebralis
in southern
Peru
. Given its wide distribution,
E. laticeps
is most likely sympatric with these species throughout most of their distributions. Similarly,
E. laticeps
might be sympatric with
Morunasaurus annularis
and
M. peruvianus
.
Remarks.
Torres-Carvajal & de Queiroz (2009) found strong support (bootstrap value = 100) for the monophyly of
Enyalioides laticeps
in a maximum likelihood phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequence data that included two specimens from
Ecuador
, one from
Peru
, and another one from
Brazil
. Sequences of the individuals from
Peru
and
Brazil
were more similar to each other (maximum-likelihood corrected distance = 0.049) than they were to either of the two samples from
Ecuador
(0.069–0.081), which, likewise, were more similar to each other (0.017).