Spondylurus Fitzinger, 1826

Hedges, S. Blair & Conn, Caitlin E., 2012, A new skink fauna from Caribbean islands (Squamata, Mabuyidae, Mabuyinae) 3288, Zootaxa 3288 (1), pp. 1-244 : 138-139

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.3288.1.1
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/39191A7F-0780-FF77-2DA9-EC567D75FE74
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Spondylurus Fitzinger, 1826
status

Treatment

Genus Spondylurus Fitzinger, 1826

Antillean Four-lined Skinks

Spondylurus Fitzinger, 1826:23 . Type species: Scincus sloanii Daudin, 1803:287 , by monotypy.

Diagnosis. Species in this genus are characterized by (1) frontoparietals, two (very rarely one or three), (2) supraciliaries, four (occasionally three, five, or six; three commonly in Spondylurus lineolatus and five always in S. fulgidus ), (3) supraoculars, four (three commonly in S. martinae sp. nov. and S. monitae sp. nov. and two or three rarely in six other species), (4) prefrontal contact, absent (contact or not in S. fulgidus , S. haitiae sp. nov., S. powelli sp. nov., and S. sloanii , and contact rarely in three other species), (5) parietal contact, present (rarely no contact in three species), (6) rows of nuchals, two (rarely one or three), (7) dorsals + ventrals, 108–135, (8) total lamellae, 159–238, (9) a dark middorsal stripe, absent, (10) dark dorsolateral stripes, present, (11) a dark lateral stripe, present, and (12) dark ventral striping, absent. Species range from small to large in maximum body sizes, 64–107 mm SVL ( Table 2).

The presence of dark dorsolateral stripes separates Spondylurus from Alinea , Capitellum , Copeoglossum , Exila , Maracaiba , and Notomabuya (dark dorsolateral stripes absent). In several other genera ( Mabuya , Marisora , and Varzea ), dark dorsolateral stripes are usually absent as well. From Aspronema and Manciola , it is distinguished by the absence of a narrow dark middorsal stripe. It differs from Exila , Notomabuya , and Panopa (one frontoparietal) by having two frontoparietals (very rarely one or three). It differs from Exila and Panopa in lacking prefrontal contact (versus prefrontals in contact or fused). Spondylurus usually have two rows of nuchals (rarely one or three) and all species have some individuals with more than one row; this differs from Brasiliscincus , Capitellum , Copeoglossum , Manciola , Maracaiba , Notomabuya , Orosaura , and Varzea (only one row of nuchals). In having mostly pale palms and soles (except S. caicosae sp. nov., S. fulgidus , and S. lineolatus ), Spondylurus differs from Capitellum , Exila , Mabuya , Maracaiba , Orosaura , and Psychosaura (dark palms and soles).

Content. Seventeen species are placed in the genus: Spondylurus anegadae sp. nov., S. caicosae sp. nov., S. culebrae sp. nov., S. fulgidus , S. haitiae sp. nov., S. lineolatus , S. macleani , S. magnacruzae sp. nov., S. martinae sp. nov., S. monae sp. nov., S. monitae sp. nov., S. nitidus , S. powelli sp. nov., S. semitaeniatus , S. sloanii , S. spilonotus , and S. turksae sp. nov. ( Table 1).

Distribution. The genus is distributed in the northern portion of the West Indies, including the Turks and Caicos Islands, Jamaica, Hispaniola, the Puerto Rico Bank and region (including Mona, Monito, and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands), and on islands of the Anguilla Bank in the northern Lesser Antilles ( Anguilla, St. Martin, and St. Barts); Figs. 1 View FIGURE 1 , 8A View FIGURE 8 , 9A–C View FIGURE 9 , 10 View FIGURE 10 , and 11A.

Etymology. The etymology was not given in the original description. However, the generic name ( Fitzinger 1826) is masculine and probably derived from the Latin noun spondylos (vertebra), in allusion to the distinctive pale middorsal (vertebral) stripe in the type species (also present in most other species of the genus), or to dark dorsolateral (paravertebral) stripes that help define the pale middorsal stripe, or both. We give this genus the common name "Antillean four-lined skinks " in reference to the four major dark stripes (lateral and dorsolateral)

Remarks. Three species are currently recognized, nine new species are described here, and four older species names are resurrected. Specimens of the nine new species described below have been in collections since at least the early 20th century but were considered to represent either a single subspecies, " Mabuya mabouya sloanei " ( Dunn 1936) or a single species, " Mabuya sloanii " (Miralles 2005; Miralles et al. 2009b) by previous revisers of Caribbean island skinks. In his description of Spondylurus, Fitzinger (1826) noted that Spondylurus sloanii differs from other skinks in having femoral pores, but this statement is in error; it does not have femoral pores, as was noted subsequently by several authors. We place these 17 species of Spondylurus in seven species groups (see Discussion).