The Amphibians and Reptiles of Michoacán, México

by William Edward Duellman

Cnemidophorus calidipes Duellman, Occ. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan, 574:1, December 23, 1955.—Capirio, Michoacán, México.

Apatzingán (56); 12-20 km. S of Apatzingán (5); 19 km. E of Apatzingán (5); 25 km. S of Arteaga; Capirio (57); El Espinal (13); Jazmin (9); 11 km. S of Lombardia; Nueva Italia.

This small, distinctive species of the sexlineatus-group of Cnemidophorus was discovered in the Tepalcatepec Valley in 1955 (Duellman, 1955); subsequent field studies showed it to be widespread in the valley (Duellman, 1960c). One specimen (KU 29747) is from the relatively arid, low Pacific slope of the Sierra de Coalcomán, 25 kilometers south of Arteaga. All other specimens have been taken at elevations of 200 to 650 meters in the Tepalcatepec Valley, where the species characteristically inhabits the open scrub forests of the valley floor, especially the Cercidium-Prosopis-Apoplanesia associations, where there is a sparse growth of grasses. In this habitat it is most frequently seen in association with Cnemidophorus costatus zweifeli and C. deppei infernalis.

Aside from the characters given in Table 5, Cnemidophorus calidipes differs from other species of Cnemidophorus in Michoacán by possessing a complete (or nearly so) supraorbital semicircle-series of granules; in other species the granules seldom extend anteriorly beyond the posterior border of the frontal.

Cnemidophorus communis communis Cope

Cnemidophorus communis Cope, Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., 17:95, 1877.—No type locality given; type locality restricted to Colima, Colima, México, by Zweifel (1959a:74).

Cnemidophorus communis communis, Zweifel, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 117:74, April 27, 1959.

Aguililla (2); Apatzingán (6); 13 km. S of Arteaga (2); 19 km. S of Arteaga (3); Capirio (3); Coahuayana (3); Coalcomán (44); El Ticuiz; between El Ticuiz and Ojos de Agua de San Telmo; La Placita (6); Pómaro (2); Río Cachán; Salitre de Estopila; San Juan de Lima.

The specimens from Coalcomán and the coastal localities were referred to Cnemidophorus sacki copei by Peters (1954:18) and Duellman (1954b:12). Zweifel (1959a) referred these specimens to Cnemidophorus communis communis and pointed out the probable sympatry of C. communis and C. costatus (= sacki of Zweifel) in the Tepalcatepec Valley.

There is considerable geographic variation in the number of dorsal granules around the midbody. Sixteen specimens from the coastal regions of Michoacán have 129-146 (136.3) granules; nine from the Tepalcatepec Valley have 124-137 (128.3), and 44 from Coalcomán at an elevation of 950 meters in the Sierra de Coalcomán, intermediate geographically between the coast and the Tepalcatepec Valley, have 105-144 (119.7). The number of granules in specimens from the coast of Michoacán compares favorably with the range of 118-154 (137.8) for 34 specimens from Colima, Colima (Zweifel, 1959a:107). Aside from the characters given in Table 5, C. communis communis can be distinguished from other members of the Cnemidophorus sexlineatus-group (calidipes, costatus, and scarlaris) by its relatively small post-antebrachial scales.