No abstract

Names are provided for two montane gymnophthalmid lizards that have been long known from the Venezuelan Guayana, but that were not described by other workers because specimens had been lost.Euspondylus auyanensis, new species (5 Anadia sp. auctorum), is known only from the summit of Auyantepui, where it was originally discovered by S. Gorzula in 1984; a later specimen, the holotype, was collected by Renaud Boistel in 1998. The monophyly of Euspondylus has not been established and the generic assignment is tentative.Anadia escalerae, new species, is based on a specimen obtained by John Cadle in 1980, in the region of La Escalera, to the east of Auyantepui. It agrees with Anadia sensu stricto in being a slender attenuate lizard, but is unusual in having weakly keeled (vs. smooth) dorsal scales and in having the prefrontals separated by an azygous scale. The last condition also occurs in the holotype of A. pariaensis from the Península de Paria, about 500 km NNW of La Escalera; although differing in several characters, they may be sister species.A new specimen of the rare Anadia blakei (from Cerro Humo, Península de Paria), is described and illustrated. It is a robust lizard, markedly different in habitus from Anadia sensu stricto.

No abstract

Phylogenetic relationships among the species of Mabuya present around the Caribbean Sea (Antilles, Central America, and northern South America) are proposed for the first time. The molecular phylogenetic analyses (based on cytochrome b and 12S sequences) give new insights into the diversification of the genus in the New World, its multiple instances of montane habitat colonization, and the multiple waves of colonization towards the Caribbean area. In addition to the molecular analyses, we propose hypotheses about the phylogenetic placement of some rare or possibly extinct species, based on a qualitative analysis of morphological characters. The present article also includes descriptions of two new species from northern Venezuela, Mabuya nebulosylvestrissp. nov. (from the highlands of the coastal range and the Andean Cordillera of Mérida) and Mabuya zuliae sp. nov. (from the lowlands of the Maracaibo lake basin). Mabuya luciaeGarman, 1887, a possibly extinct species endemic to St Lucia Island, is resurrected and diagnosed from its supposed sister species, Mabuya mabouya (Lacepède, 1788). © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 156, 598–616.

No abstract