Alopoglossus atriventris Duellman, 1973

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 : 382

Alopoglossus atriventris Duellman, 1973

Distribution: Western Amazon in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia ( Ribeiro-Júnior & Amaral 2017). In Colombia there are records for the Amazon foothills in Putumayo and Meta departments, and southward to Leticia in Amazonas ( Fig. 4A ).

Similar species: Alopoglossus atriventris is easily distinguished from other similar and sympatric species of the genus by lacking occipital scales (present in A. bicolor and A. brevifrontalis ); small granular scales on the sides of the neck (keeled, imbricated and similar in shape to dorsals in A. avilapiresae ); and in having distinctly or weakly keeled ventral scales (smooth in A. buckleyi ). For a more detailed description see Ribeiro-Júnior et al. (2020).

Remarks: It has been suggested that this species has sexual dimorphism in the coloration as males are characterized by having black chin, throat and belly, whereas females are cream ( Duellman 1973). In this study we extend the known distribution of Alopoglossus atriventris to the municipality of La Macarena, Meta which is ca. 266 km NE to the previous northernmost known record in Colombia.

Alopoglossus avilapiresae Ribeiro-Júnior et al., 2020

Distribution: Western Amazon in Brazil, Peru, and southern Colombia ( Ribeiro-Júnior et al. 2020). The only known records for Colombia are from Leticia municipality in the Amazonas department ( Fig. 4A ).

Similar species: Alopoglossus avilapiresae differs from other similar species by lacking occipital scales (present in A. bicolor and A. brevifrontalis ); in having non-granular, keeled and imbricated scales on the flanks of the neck, different in shape to those near the tympanic aperture (small granular scales in A. atriventris and A. buckleyi ). For a more detailed description see Ribeiro-Júnior et al. (2020).

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.