Order
SQUAMATA
Amphisbaena spurrelli
. —This species was erroneously cited from Venezuela by Donoso-Barros (1968) because the author mistakenly synonymised
A. rozei
under
A. spurrelli
. Several authors followed this arrangement (see La Marca 1997; Péfaur & Rivero 2000).
Amphisbaena spurrelli
is restricted to the Pacific versant of Colombia and Panama, west of the
Andes
, while
A. rozei
is known from the Guayana region in Venezuela (thus well east of the
Andes
). Gans and Mathers (1977), and more recently Vanzolini (2002), showed substantial morphological differences between these species.
Anolis frenatus
. —Although this species has repeatedly been included as part of the Venezuelan herpetofauna, no voucher specimen exists to confirm its presence in the country.
Anolis gibbiceps
. —This species was described based on a single female from “Caracas” ( Cope 1864).
Anolis gibbiceps
was subsequently reported from northeastern South America, northern Venezuela and Guyana ( Burt & Burt 1933; Parker 1935; Donoso-Barros 1968; Peters & Donoso-Barros 1970), but none of these authors listed specific localities other than that of the holotype.
Anolis gibbiceps
is closely allied to
A. fuscoauratus ( Savage & Guyer 1989)
. The species was not considered by Williams (1976) in his grouping of South American anoles.
The validity of this taxon is highly dubious. Based on the original description, the inclusion of this species in the
A. fuscoauratus
group does not seem appropriate. Moreover, we have been unable to find additional information about this taxon other than the original and brief description ( Donoso-Barros 1968; Peters & Donoso-Barros 1970). Examination of specimens assigned to
A. gibbiceps
from Venezuela revealed misidentified anoles of other species (e.g.
A. squamulatus
). Recently, C. McCarthy (NHM) sent us photographs of the holotype (BMNH 1946.8.13.35, formerly 1846.10.28.5, Fig. 6) and informed us that the original catalogue entry (dated 1846) states that the specimen is from Jamaica. Written with the holotype is an added undated comment in the handwriting of Miss A.G.C. Grandison, who worked in the collection between 1951–1984, stating: “type locality given as Caracas in Cope’s description”.
It is unclear on which basis the locality was changed from “ Jamaica ” to “Caracas”, but after examining the photographs of the holotype we observed similarities between that specimen and three of the seven anole species found in Jamaica (
A. grahami
,
A. lineatopus
and
A. opalinus
) and conclude that the holotype indeed belongs to a taxon of Caribbean or Central American origin. Thus, the type locality reported by Cope is likely in error. Because we have not examined the holotype in detail we refrain from assigning it to any particular species. It is clear, however, that this taxon does not belong to the Venezuelan herpetofauna.
Anolis roquet
. —This species was reported in Venezuela as
Anolis roquet extremus ( Peters & Donoso-Barros 1970)
; see our comments about
A. extremus
in the Introduced species section.
Anolis transversalis
. — Donoso-Barros (1968) mentioned this species from Venezuelan Amazonas, but there is no voucher specimen to confirm the record. Nor Williams and Vanzolini (1966) or Avila-Pires (1995) considered the species present in Venezuela.
Atractus badius
. —This species was erroneously recorded from the Coastal Range and the Cordillera de Mérida ( Roze 1966; Lancini 1979). According to Hoogmoed (1980) this taxon probably includes several distinct species and
A. badius
has a limited distribution in the Guiana Shield. It is likely that the specimens cited as
A. badius
from Venezuela are in fact
A. univittatus
or
A. lancinii
, at least those from the Coastal Range records (W. Schargel and P. Passos, pers. comm.). Specimens from the Cordillera de Mérida could belong to an undescribed taxon. The species is not considered in our analysis, or as belonging to the Venezuelan herpetofauna.
Coleodactylus meridionalis
. —No voucher specimen of this species is known from Venezuela. The inclusion of this taxon in the Venezuelan herpetofauna (Rivero-Blanco 1967) is based on misidentified specimens of
C. septentrionalis
( Vanzolini 1980; Rivas Fuenmayor & Molina 2001).
Coleodactylus meridionalis
is restricted to northeastern Brazil ( Geurgas et al. 2008).
Gonatodes ocellatus
. —This species was recorded based on individuals from Isla Margarita ( Roze 1964b). Later, Rivero-Blanco (1979) examined these specimens and suggested that they belong to an undescribed species. Rivero- Blanco (1979) restricted the distribution of
G. ocellatus
to the island of Tobago.
Gymnophthalmus lineatus
. —This species has been reported from Tucacas, Falcón State by Mijares-Urrutia and Arends (2000). Their record is based on a single specimen (
Museo
de Ciencias
Naturales
de Caracas 195), and the authors mentioned that its identification needs to be confirmed. Although we could not examine that specimen, we consider very likely that it represents a misidentified specimen of
G. speciosus
, which is present at the same locality (a possibility also suggested by Mijares-Urrutia & Arends 2000).
Gymnophthalmus lineatus
is thus not included in our list at this stage, even if, as mentioned below, the species could eventually be found in the Las Aves Archipelago.
View in CoL
Micrurus lemniscatus helleri
. —This subspecies has often been mentioned from Venezuela and its presence was accepted by Roze (1967, 1983). The southern Amazonas population was assigned to this subspecies, but no voucher is provided (Roze 1987). Cunha and Nascimento (1993) pointed out that meristic characters of M. l. helleri are similar to those of M. l.
lemniscatus
, and thus that helleri should be considered a synonym of lemniscatus. Barrio-Amorós and Calcaño (2003) followed this statement, assigning the helleri population of Amazonas and a new one from Barinas to M. l.
lemniscatus
.
Oxyrhopus trigeminus
. — The species was recorded from Venezuela ( Lancini 1979), but Zaher and Caramaschi (1992) re-identified the original photographs published by Lancini as
O. aff. melanogenys
. According to Mac- Culloch et al. (2009) the occurrence of
O. trigeminus
north to the Amazon River, and thus in Venezuela, remains highly doubtful and we follow these authors recommendation.
Pliocercus psychoides
. —This species was described from the border between Brazil and Venezuela with an unknown date of collection and collector ( Smith & Chiszar 1996). In the original description, the authors stated that the species is probably a mimic of
Micrurus
p.
psyches
, known from southern Venezuela and the Guianas. For this reason, they concluded that the only known specimen (holotype AMNH 4433), probably came from southern Venezuela. In a subsequent publication Smith and Chiszar (2001) re-identified the same specimen as
P. elapoides aequalis
with a probable origin from western central Guatemala. Similarly, in the Reptile Database ( Uetz 2011),
P. psychoides
is considered a synonym of
P. elapoides
according to a personal communication of V. Wallach to the website.
Pliocercus elapoides
inhabits southeastern México, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Curiously, in the catalogue of AMNH, the specimen catalogued 4433 remains identified as
Pliocercus euryzonus
, a bicolour species that ranges from Nicaragua to western Ecuador (currently placed in the genus
Urotheca
) and also includes the problematic locality data “ Venezuela, Brazil ”. Given the lack of verifiable information, we do not consider that any species or subspecies of the genus
Pliocercus
occurs in Venezuela.
Taeniophallus brevirostris
. —This species was mentioned from Venezuela as
Rhadinaea brevirostris
based on two specimens collected in the Sierra de Perijá, Zulia State ( Alemán 1953). Dixon and Michaud (1992) correctly assigned one specimen (MHNLS 399) to
Liophis melanotus lamari
(see Rivas 2001c), while the second (MHNLS 1298) also proved to be L. m. lamari; see our comments below about species of possible occurrence in Venezuela.
