Fantastic lizards and where to find them: cis-Andean microteiids (Squamata: Alopoglossidae & Gymnophthalmidae) from the Colombian Orinoquia and Amazonia Author Diago-Toro, María F. Programa de Biología, Facultad de Ciencias Básicas y Tecnologías, Universidad del Quindío, Armenia, Quindío, Colombia. Author García-Cobos, Daniela Subdirección de Investigaciones, Colecciones Biológicas, Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt, carrera 8 # 15 - 08, Claustro de San Agustín, Villa de Leyva, Boyacá, Colombia. Author Brigante-Luna, Giovanni D. 0000-0001-6823-2383 Grupo de investigación de Biodiversidad del Caribe Colombiano, Semillero de Herpetología, Programa de Biología, Universidad del Atlántico. https: // orcid. org / 0000 - 0001 - 6823 - 2383 Author Vásquez-Restrepo, Juan D. Programa de Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México. text Zootaxa 2021 2021-11-11 5067 3 377 400 journal article 3574 10.11646/zootaxa.5067.3.3 937e9cfe-ea1e-4891-b147-91ab13a31d78 1175-5326 5681919 F64E5226-B4DD-44A3-A83E-E05928B82F4B Alopoglossus brevifrontalis ( Boulenger, 1912 ) Distribution: Widespread in the Amazonia of Brazil , Peru , Ecuador and Colombia ( Ribeiro-Júnior &Amaral 2017 ). In Colombia it is distributed throughout most of the Orinoquia and Amazonia regions ( Fig. 4A ). Similar species: This species is differentiated from all the other sympatric and similar species of Alopoglossus in the cis-Andean region due to the presence of occipital scales (absent in A. atriventris , A. avilapiresae , and A. buckleyi ); and for the presence of prefrontal scales (absent in A. bicolor ). In addition, Alopoglossus brevifrontalis may be confused with Arthrosaura reticulata given their external morphological resemblance. However, Al. brevifrontalis can be easily distinguished in having four supraocular scales (three in Ar. reticulata ); three pairs of chinshields (four in Ar. reticulata ); and mostly squared ventral scales in the medial rows (rectangular in Ar. reticulata ). For a more detailed description see Ávila-Pires (1995) . Remarks: Ptychoglossus nicefori was considered as a junior synonym of “ Ptychoglossus brevifrontalis ” (= A. brevifrontalis ) by Peloso & Ávila-Pires (2010) , since they considered that the morphological differences between them were not enough to be different species.