Abronia gadovii

Abronia gadovii
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Anguidae
Genus:	Abronia
Species:	A. gadovii
Binomial name
Abronia gadovii (Boulenger, 1913)
Synonyms[2]
Gerrhonotus gadovii Boulenger, 1913 Barisia gadovii — Tihen, 1949 Mesaspis gadovii — Good, 1988 Abronia gadovii — Gutiérrez-Rodríguez et al., 2020

Abronia gadovii, also known commonly as Gadow's alligator lizard and el escorpión de Gadow in Mexican Spanish, is a species of lizard in the family Anguidae. The species is endemic to the highlands of the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero and Oaxaca, Mexico.[1][2] Two subspecies are recognized:[2]

Etymology

The specific name, gadovii, is in honor of German ornithologist Hans Friedrich Gadow.[3]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of A. gadovii is forest, including second-growth forest.[1]

Description

A. gadovii may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about 9 cm (3.5 in), plus a tail length of about 15 cm (5.9 in).[4]

Diet

A. gadovii preys predominately upon insects, and is known to also devour small lizards.[5]

Reproduction

A. gadovii is ovoviviparous.[2]

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized as being valid including the nominotypical subspecies.

• Abronia gadovii gadovii (Boulenger, 1913) – Guerrero
• Abronia gadovii levigata (Tihen, 1949) – Oaxaca

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Abronia.

References

1. Canseco-Márquez, L.; Campbell, J.A.; Ponce-Campos, P.; Muñoz-Alonso, A.; García Aguayo, A. (2007). "Mesaspis gadovii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2007: e.T63713A12708812. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2007.RLTS.T63713A12708812.en.
2. Abronia gadovii at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 21 November 2022.
3. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Mesaspis gadovii, p. 96).
4. Boulenger GA (1913).
5. Santos-Bibiano, Rufino; Woolrich-Piña, Guillermo A.; Beltrán-Sánchez, Elizabeth; Méndez-de la Cruz, Fausto R. (2016). "Mesaspis gadovii (Gadow's Alligator Lizard). Saurophagy". Mesoamerican Herpetology 3 (2): 484–486.

Further reading

• Boulenger GA (1913). "Descriptions of new Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum". Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Eighth Series 12: 563–566. (Gerrhonotus gadovii, new species. pp. 564–565).
• Good DA (1988). Phylogenetic Relationships Among Gerrhonotine Lizards: An Analysis of External Morphology. (University of California Publications in Zoology, Volume 121). Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press. x + 139 pp. ISBN 0-520-09744-0. (Mesaspis gadovii, new combination, p. 82).
• Tihen JA (1949). "A Review of the Lizard Genus Barisia". University of Kansas Science Bulletin 33 (1): 217–254 + Plates I–II. (Barisia gadovii levigata, new subspecies, pp. 231–233 + Plate II, figures 3–5).