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1 March 2009 Identity, Reproduction, Variation, Ecology, and Geographic Origin of a Florida Adventive: Cnemidophorus lemniscatus (Rainbow Whiptail Lizard, Sauria: Teiidae)
Brian P. Butterfield, J. Brian Hauge, Anthony Flanagan, James M. Walker
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Abstract

We answer a longstanding question pertaining to Florida's exotic herpeto-fauna—are the colorful lizards (Sauria: Teiidae, Cnemidophorus lemniscatus [Rainbow Whiptail]), introduced to Florida from the pet trade, representative of one or a complex of species? We performed detailed analyses of color pattern, scutellation, and meristic characters using 16 specimens from Miami-Dade County and compared these data to those based on samples of all members in the widely distributed neotropical Cnemidophorus lemniscatus complex comprising both parthenogenetic (C. cryptus and C. pseudolemniscatus) and gonochoristic (C. arenivagus, C. gramivagus, C. lemniscatus lemniscatus, C. lemniscatus splendidus, and C. nigricolor) species of lizards. We concluded that only the most widely distributed taxon in the complex, C. lemniscatus lemniscatus, is established in Miami-Dade County. A population of this form has existed in an area of the City of Miami for several decades near and in a human-created domain of buildings, houses, swales, railroad right-of-way, and untended areas with litter/debris, introduced plants, and variable substrate mixtures of soil/pebbles/concrete/ asphalt. Based on comparisons of color pattern and morphological characters, the founders of the population of C. lemniscatus in Florida were most likely imported from Venezuela, Colombia, or an island in the Caribbean Sea.

Brian P. Butterfield, J. Brian Hauge, Anthony Flanagan, and James M. Walker "Identity, Reproduction, Variation, Ecology, and Geographic Origin of a Florida Adventive: Cnemidophorus lemniscatus (Rainbow Whiptail Lizard, Sauria: Teiidae)," Southeastern Naturalist 8(1), 45-54, (1 March 2009). https://doi.org/10.1656/058.008.0105
Published: 1 March 2009
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