Gymnophthalmus gr. speciosus (Hallowell, 1861)

Diago-Toro, María F., García-Cobos, Daniela, Brigante-Luna, Giovanni D. & Vásquez-Restrepo, Juan D., 2021, Fantastic lizards and where to find them: cis-Andean microteiids (Squamata: Alopoglossidae & Gymnophthalmidae) from the Colombian Orinoquia and Amazonia, Zootaxa 5067 (3), pp. 377-400 : 391-392

Gymnophthalmus gr. speciosus

Distribution: Widely distributed from southern México, across Central America, and northwestern South America in Colombia and north Venezuela. In Colombia either in the trans- and cis-Andean region ( Fig. 4E ).

Similar species: Unfortunately, the morphological characters discussed in the literature are not completely conclusive to differentiate individuals of the cis-Andean Gymnophthalmus speciosus group from other sympatric congenerics. However, according to different bibliographical sources, G. speciosus group may differ in having a reddish tail (blue in G. cryptus , grey in G. leucomystax , and salmon-pink in G. marconaterai ); upper lip cream with dark spots or dark brown (white in G. leucomystax and G. marconaterai ); cream belly with dark spots (dark in G. cryptus , white in G. leucomystax and G. marconaterai ); inconspicuous dorsolateral stripe that fades away towards the midbody (vivid dorsolateral stripe that extends from the supraocular region to the base of the tail in G. leucomystax , and extends towards the posterior region of the tail in G. marconaterai ); and in normally possessing 13, rarely 15, scales around midbody (15, rarely 14, in G. cryptus ). For more detailed descriptions see Hernández-Ruz (2006), Recoder et al. (2018) and Señaris et al. (2018).

Remarks: Deeper phylogenetic and morphological analyses are needed to properly elucidate the evolutionary relationships within the genus and its possible hidden diversity. The type locality of Gymnophthalmus speciosus is in Nicaragua, and it is possible that Middle American and eastern South American populations belong to different entities, but currently there are no known diagnostic characters to separate them ( Vanzolini & Carvalho 1991; Recoder et al. 2018).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Distribution maps for the cis-Andean microteiid lizards in Colombia (Alopoglossidae + Gymnophthalmidae). Circles are examined specimens, while squares are records from literature (see Supplementary Files for specific references). Red arrows indicate new records for Colombia. Black arrows show a zoom in to regions where several records overlap. The light green shadow indicates the Orinoco River basin, and the dark green the Amazon River basin.