A Review of the Teiid Lizard Cnemidophorus cozumelus and the Recognition of a New Race, Cnemidophorus cozumelus rodecki

Abstract

Recent collections of the Yucatecan endemic teiid lizard previously known as Cnemidophorus deppei cozumelus Gadow have extended the known range of the taxon to include an area of sympatry with the closely related Cnemidophorus d. deppei. On the basis of its sympatry with C. deppei and because of its unique characters, including the presence of accessory frontoparietal scutes and the lack of ontogenetic color or pattern change, Cnemidophorus cozumelus is recognized as a distinct species of the deppei group of Cnemidophorus. Studies of the geographic variation of Cnemidophorus cozumelus reveal that populations from Isla Mujeres, Isla Contoy and Puerto Juarez, Quintana Roo, Mexico, are separable on the basis of color, pattern, and scutellation from the typical subspecies which occurs on Isla de Cozumel, Quintana Roo, and Isla del Carmen, Campeche, both in Mexico, and at Ramate, El Peten, Guatemala. The subspecies occurring on Isla Mujeres, Isla Contoy, and at Puerto Juarez is herein named Cnemidophorus cozumelus rodecki, ssp. n. Since the genetic criteria employed in delineation of Mendelian species and subspecies are meaningless in this unisexual species, we have partitioned Cnemidophorus cozumelus at a level consonant with current taxonomic practice.