Scincella cherriei (Cope, 1893)

Castiglia, Riccardo, Flores-Villela, Oscar Alberto, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Gornung, Ekaterina, Annesi, Flavia, Munoz-Alonso, Luis Antonio & Solano, Emanuela, 2020, Detection of cryptic diversity in lizards (Squamata) from two Biosphere Reserves in Mesoamerica, Comparative Cytogenetics 14 (4), pp. 613-638 : 613

Scincella cherriei (Cope, 1893)

Distribution.

This species inhabits Mexico, from central Veracruz to extreme southeastern Puebla, northern Oaxaca state, southwards to Central America on the Atlantic coast, including the Yucatan Peninsula in México, reaching the eastern Panama.

Samples.

RCMX219 (male) and RCMX235 (male*) from Estación Chajul, Selva Lacandona, Montes Azules, Chiapas state, Mexico.

DNA taxonomy.

The BI phylogenetic tree has been performed on 448-bp alignment of the 16S gene for four individuals of Scincella cherriei [RCMX219 and RCMX235 from the Montes Azules, one from Costa Rica (JF498076) and one from Nicaragua (AB057392)] and three individuals of Scincella assata [RCMX92 from La Sepultura, and two from El Salvador (JF498074 and JF498075)]. Scincella lateralis (Say, 1822) (AB057402 and JF498077) and S. reevesii (Gray, 1838) (JF498078) were used as outgroups. The tree (Fig. 3 ) shows S. assata as a monophyletic and well supported group (p.p.: 1.0), including the individual from La Sepultura. The two individuals of S. cherriei from the Montes Azules, southern Mexico, form a well-supported group separated from the other two individuals from Costa Rica and Nicaragua that fall in a well distinct clade (p.p.: 1.0).

The genetic divergence between the two specimens of S. cherriei from the Montes Azules and S. cherriei from other localities is high (5.2%), comparable to the divergence between S. assata and S. cherriei (6.6%-6.2%). The nominal subspecies S. c. cherriei (Cope, 1893), was described from Palmar, Costa Rica, which is far from from the Montes Azules. The lineage of S. cherriei from the Montes Azules may represent a different taxon worthy of additional detailed morphological and genetic studies.

Chromosomes.

The karyotype, described in Castiglia et al. (2013a), shows a diploid number of 2n = 30 and in this case the presence of heteromorphic (XY) sex chromosomes. The diploid complement of S. cherriei differs from its sister species S. assata by the presence of an additional pair of microchromosomes.

Figures

Figure 3. Bayesian phylogenetic tree (16 S) of 16 S haplotypes from Mexican Scincella species. In bold, the new individuals from this study; the geographic provenience of each individual is reported in brackets.