Conociendo al lagarto escorpión: leyendas, realidad y potencial de una rareza biológica

Abstract

A pesar de ser uno de los reptiles más esquivos en México, el lagarto escorpión es al mismo tiempo uno de los más famosos debido a sus peculiaridades, como la presencia de glándulas de veneno y una apariencia sumamente llamativa. Se recopila la literatura publicada sobre uno de los reptiles míticos de nuestro país para fomentar su protección a través de la divulgación científica. La literatura muestra un avance significativo en el conocimiento del lagarto escorpión, pero también evidencia la necesidad de investigar aspectos clave para su conservación: sensibilidad a las perturbaciones ambientales y requerimientos de hábitat, dinámica de interacción con las personas, aplicaciones medicinales y variabilidad genética.

The Effects of Implementing Three Climate-Smart Practices with an Integrated Landscape Approach on Functional Connectivity and Carbon Storage

“…For example, species with short distance thresholds are more affected by landscape transformation, and climate-smart practices with arboreal elements could help recover their population. The scorpion lizard, a species distributed close to the coast of Jalisco, has a maximum displacement distance from its refuge of 236 m and depends on trees for feeding; consequently, extensive agricultural activities that eliminated tree elements have caused a severe population decrease [21,35]. These species are the ones that would benefit the most from the implementation of the analyzed climate-smart practices.…”

New records of Heloderma alvarezi (Wiegmann, 1829) (Sauria: Helodermatidae) on the coast of Oaxaca and increases to its distribution in Mexico

“…The beaded lizard is known coloquially as 'escorpión' and is well known to local inhabitants, yet its natural history is surrounded by mystery, notoriety and misconception (Reiserer et al 2013;Domínguez-Vega et al 2018), principally because these animals can pass up to 95% of their lives hidden in shelters underground, which makes it difficult to detect them. Moreover, they maintain a low population (Beck & Jennings 2003;Domínguez-Vega et al 2018). Furthermore, it is the only group which bears venom-transmitting teeth J TT with a deep venom groove in the rostral carina (Fry et al 2006).…”

Significant distribution extension and first verified record of Chiapan Beaded Lizard, Heloderma alvarezi (Bogert & Martin del Campo, 1956) (Squamata, Helodermatidae), in southeastern Guerrero, Mexico

“…This species is known colloquially as "escorpión" and is considered extremely dangerous by the local inhabitants. Its natural history is surrounded by mystery, notoriety, and misconception (Reiserer et al 2013;Domínguez-Vega et al 2017, 2018, principally because these animals can spend up to 95% of their lives hidden in shelters underground, which makes detection difficult. Furthermore, studies of population levels are limited.…”