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A molecular phylogeographic study using a fragment of the mitochondrial gene for cytochrome b (cytb) was performed on the lesser white-toothed shrew, Crocidura suaveolens, from seven localities in central and southern Italy. Comparison with cytb European haplotypes revealed the absence of endemic lineages in the region, in contrast to what has been observed for many other Italian terrestrial vertebrates. Indeed the all the Italian specimens results nested with Balkanic conspecific within an Italo-Balkan clade. Historical demography of this clade showed a scenario of expansion which preceded the LGM. This evidence of glacial persistence indicates a certain flexibility of the classic models of Pleistocene biogeography.

The karyotype of a sphaerodactylid gecko Euleptes europaea (Gené, 1839) was assembled for the first time in this species. It is made of 2n = 42 gradually decreasing in size chromosomes, the highest chromosome number so far acknowledged in the family Sphaerodactylidae. The second chromosome pair of the karyotype appears slightly heteromorphic in the male individual. Accordingly, FISH with a telomeric probe revealed an uneven distribution of telomeric repeats on the two homologues of this pair, which may be indicative of an XY sex-determination system in the species, to be further investigated.

We characterized eighteen water voles, Arvicola amphibius (s.l.), from five populations along the Italian peninsula by means of mtDNA cytochrome b (Cytb) sequences. The samples included aquatic voles and one fossorial population from northern Italy. The standard karyotype of four voles from one central Italian population was also analysed and was identical to the one found in other populations outside Italy. Phylogenetic analyses, including vole Cytb haplotypes from the entire range, indicated the existence of a well supported and highly divergent Italian lineage (4.3%), sister to all the other haplotypes. The fossorial voles are not genetically differentiated from the aquatic voles from a nearby population and belong to the same taxon. Given the high Cytb divergence and the results of previous investigations on allozymes and hybrid fertility, we believe that the Italian population of water voles belongs to a distinct species, Arvicola italicus Savi, 1838, with the type locality near Pisa, although a morphological assessment of the entire skull is necessary to define it.

Our understanding of the effect of Pleistocene climatic changes on the biodiversity of European mammals mostly comes from phylogeographical studies of non-subterranean mammals, whereas the influence of glaciation cycles on subterranean mammals has received little attention. The lack of data raises the question of how and to what extent the current amount and distribution of genetic variation in subterranean mammals is the result of Pleistocene range contractions/expansions. The common mole (Talpa europaea) is a strictly subterranean mammal, widespread across Europe, and represents one of the best candidates for studying the influence of Quaternary climatic oscillation on subterranean mammals. Cytochrome b sequences, as obtained from a sampling covering the majority of the distribution area, were used to evaluate whether Pleistocene climate change influenced the evolution of T. europaea and left a trace in the genetic diversity comparable to that observed in non-subterranean small mammals. Subsequently, we investigated the occurrence of glacial refugia by comparing the results of phylogeographical analysis with species distribution modelling. We found three differentiated mitochondrial DNA lineages: two restricted to Spain and Italy and a third that was widespread across Europe. Phylogenetic inferences and the molecular clock suggest that the Spanish moles represent a highly divergent and ancient lineage, highlighting for the first time the paraphyly of T. europaea. Furthermore, our analyses suggest that the genetic break between the Italian and the European lineages predates the last glacial phase. Historical demography and spatial principal component analysis further suggest that the Last Glacial Maximum left a signature both in the Italian and in the European lineages. Genetic data combined with species distribution models support the presence of at least three putative glacial refugia in southern Europe (France, Balkan Peninsula and Black Sea) during the last glacial maximum that likely contributed to post-glacial recolonization of Europe. By contrast, the Italian lineage remained trapped in the Italian peninsula and, according to the pattern observed in other subterranean mammals, did not contribute to the recolonization of northern latitudes.

Hemidactylus Gray Hemidactylus, with at least 85 recognized species, is the second most specious genus of geckonid lizards. This genus is widely distributed throughout much of the Old World tropics and subtropics as well as in the Mediterranean region and in the American continents. Phylogenetic relationships within the genus have been addressed by Carranza and Arnold (2006). The ancestral lineage of the genus may have originated in Asia, which later spread to the Arabian-African region. Many species are associated with humans and are subject to passive transport as is the case with H. brookii (sensu lato), H. mabouia, H. turcicus, H. garnotii, and H. frenatus, which colonized the Mediterranean region, tropical Africa, much of the Americas and hundreds of islands in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic oceans., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 12, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Carranza, S. & Arnold, E. N. (2006) Systematics, biogeography, and evolution of Hemidactylus geckos (Reptilia: Gekkonidae) elucidated using mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 38, 531 - 545."]}

Anolis (Daudin) Anolis (sensu lato) is the most specious genus among the reptiles, with circa 370 recognized species (Poe 2004). Within the genus two major groups of species called ���alpha��� and ���beta��� have been recognized (the latter composed of the subgenus Norops). Moreover, subgroups of species have also been defined within ���alpha��� and ���beta��� Anolis (Nicholson 2002). However, only few of these subgroups were supported by molecular analyses and many revealed ambiguous monophyletic status. For this reason, a well supported alternative classification is needed. A global phylogenetic analysis was assessed by Nicholson et al. (2005) in a molecular phylogenetic study including 189 species. Three geographically circumscribed clades were revealed [Cuba (Jamaica, and Mainland)]. The tree topology suggests a West Indian origin for mainland Norops. The typical karyotype of ���beta��� Anolis (Norops) consists of 14 macro- and 16 microchromosomes without obvious sex chromosome heteromorphism. Another frequently observed chromosome complement is 2 n = 40 with 24 macro- and 16 microchromosomes. Presence of sex chromosomes has been reported in ���alpha��� as well as in ���beta��� Anolis. Among ���beta��� Anolis a XY system has been reported in A. onca (2 n = 30) (Gorman 1969) and systems with two Xs and one Y (XXXX-XXY) have been reported in A. biporcatus and A. sagrei (both with 2 n = 29 for males and 2 n = 30 for females) (Gorman & Atkins 1966, 1968; De Smet 1981)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 16, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Poe, S. (2004) Phylogeny of anoles. Herpetological Monographs, 18, 37 - 89.","Nicholson, K. E. (2002) Phylogenetic analysis and a test of the current infrageneric classification of Norops (beta Anolis). Herpetological Monographs, 16, 93 - 120.","Nicholson, K. E., Glor, R. E., Kolbe, J. J, Larson, A., Hedges, S. B. & Losos, J. B. (2005) Mainland colonization by island lizards. Journal of Biogeography, 32, 929 - 938.","Gorman, G. C. & Atkins, L. (1966) Chromosomal heteromorphism in some male lizards of the genus Anolis. American Naturalist, 100, 579 - 583.","Gorman, C. G. & Atkins, L. (1968) New karyotypic data of 16 species of Anolis (Sauria: Iguanidae) from Cuba, Jamaica, and Cayman Islands. Herpetologica, 24, 13 - 21.","De Smet, W. H. O. (1981) Description of the orcein stained karyotypes of 27 lizard species (Lacertilia, Reptilia) belonging to the families Teiidae, Scincidae, Lacertidae, Cordylidae and Varanidae (Autarchoglossa), Acta Zoologica et Pathologica Antverpiensia, 76, 73 - 118."]}

Mabuya Fitzinger The circumtropical genus Mabuya Fitzinger has recently been subjected to revision. Molecular analysis (Mausfeld et al. 2002) suggested that Mabuya consists of several long-separated evolutionary lineages, representing distinct and well supported monophyletic radiations. The South American species must retain the name Mabuya (Dunn 1935). The karyotype of the Neotropical species has been studied for only four species. Mabuya caissara and Mabuya macrorhyncha both have 2 n = 32 (18 macrochromosomes and 14 microchromosomes) (Colus & Ferrari 1988). Mabuya mabouya showed 2 n = 30 in the females and 2 n = 31 in the males, indicating a XY sex chromosomal system (Beçak et al. 1972), whereas M. frenata showed 2 n = 30 (Hernando & Alvarez 1990)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., García, Andrés & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 19, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Mausfeld P., Schmitz, A., Bohme, W., Misof, B., Vrcibradic, D. & Rocha, C. F. D. (2002). Phylogenetic affinities of Mabuya atlantica Schmidt, 1945, endemic to the Atlantic Ocean archipelago of Fernando de Noronha (Brazil): necessity of partitioning the genus Mabuya Fitzinger, 1826 (Scincidae: Lygosominae). Zoolgischer Anzeiger, 241, 281 - 293.","Dunn, E. R. (1935) Notes on American Mabuyas. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 87, 533 - 557.","Colus, I. M. S. & Ferrari, I. (1988) Mitotic and meiotic chromosomes of Mabuya (Scincidae: Reptilia). Genetica, 77, 105 - 111.","Becak, M. L., Becak W. & Denaro, L. (1972) Chromosome polymorphism, geographical variation and karyotypes in Sauria. Caryologia, 25, 313 - 326.","Hernando, A. & Alvarez, B. (1990). Cariotipo de Mabuya frenata (COPE, 1862) (Sauria, Scincidae). Facena, 8, 53 - 59."]}

Anolis (Norops) nebulosus Wiegmann (Clouded anole) Specimens analysed: two males (CEAC 20, CEAC 21) Distribution: Mexican endemic. Occurring from southern Sonora and northern Sinaloa, to western Guerrero, entering the Balsas Basin up to the southern State of Mexico. Subspecies: not recognized. The karyotype of A. nebulosus was briefly described by Gorman (1973) from an individual male that shows 2 n = 30, with 13 macro- and 17 microchromosomes, and this karyotype has been reported as a possible case of X-Y heteromophism. However, Gorman (1973) did not show the karyotype. Lieb (1981) in his unpublished dissertation reported two different karyotypes for this species. Males from Sonora showed a karyotype with 2 n = 36 chromosomes, 20 macro-chromosomes and 8 pairs of micro-chromosomes, including a pair of heteromorphic chromosomes. Males from Nayarit, Colima, Jalisco and Michoac��n showed 2 n = 30 chromosomes, of which 14 were macro-chromosomes, and the rest micro-chromosomes. A single pair of heterochromosomes was interpreted as XY sex chromosomes. Here we show for the first time the male karyotype of this species (Fig. 9). Diploid number is 2 n = 30 with 14 macro- and 16 microchromosomes. All the macrochromosomes are biarmed, metacentric or submetacentric, as well as the first two pairs of microchromosomes. Among the macrochromosomes, three pairs of heteromorphic chromosomes have been identified (tentatively pair numbers 5, 6 and 7, Fig. 9). These chromosomes differ in size and centromere position. The karyotype described here is probably identical to the one described by Lieb (1981). However, we identified six unpaired chromosomes (rather than one). This is congruent with the complex system involving multiple sex chromosomes already described in other species of the genus (data from the ������chromorep������ database: http://www.scienze.univpm.it/professori/chromorep.pdf). Additional data on male and female individuals from this species are required to understand the significance of this bizarre karyotype. DNA taxonomy: neither gene sequence for this species is present in GenBank. We used the NDH 2 gene and flanking tRNAs (596 bp) to assess its phylogenetic affinity. This sequence was aligned with all the other species of Norops present in GenBank (about 160 species). For ML the selected model was the Hasegawa, Kishino, Yano (HKY) model (Hasegawa et al. 1985) with a proportion of invariable sites I = 0.2664, rate variation among sites (+G), and a gamma distribution shape parameter of 0.7310. The phylogenetic position of the species was not well supported probably due to the short sequence analysed (not shown). A relationship between N. nebulosus with N. quercorum and N. nebuloides, two other Mexican endemics, was supported with low bootstrap (50 %) only by ML tree. These are the first data reporting the relationships of N. nebulosus with N. quercorum and N. nebuloides. In fact only N. quercorum was included in the same morphological species group with N. nebulosus while N. nebuloides belongs to a different group recognized on the basis of morphological characters (Etheridge 1960; Lieb 1981; Nicholson 2002)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on pages 17-18, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Gorman, G. C. (1973) The chromosomes of the Reptilia, a cytotaxonomic interpretation. In: Chiarelli, A. B. & Capanna, E. (Eds.), Cytotaxonomy and Vertebrate Evolution. Academic Press, New York, pp. 349 - 424.","Lieb, C. S. (1981) Biochemical and karyological systematics of the Mexican lizards of the Anolis gadovi and A. nebulosus species groups (Reptilia: Iguanidae). PhD Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.","Hasegawa, M., Kishino, H. & Yano, T. (1985) Dating the human-ape split by a molecular clock of mitochondrial DNA. Journal of Molecular Evolution, 22,160 - 174.","Etheridge, R. E. (1960) The relationships of the anoles (Reptilia: Sauria: Iguanidae): an interpretation based on skeletal morphology. Ph. D Dissertation, University of Michigan, Univ. Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan.","Nicholson, K. E. (2002) Phylogenetic analysis and a test of the current infrageneric classification of Norops (beta Anolis). Herpetological Monographs, 16, 93 - 120."]}

Hemidactylus frenatus Schlegel (Common house gecko) Specimens analysed: two males (CEAC 10, CEAC 11), one female (CEAC 9). Distribution: worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions. The species has been introduced into Mexico, where its presence was first reported in 1940 by Taylor and then by Burt and Myers (1942). Subspecies: Not described. However the species is chromosomally polytypic (see below). Karyotype: the chromosomal complement of this species is variable with 2 n = 40 and 2 n = 46. However the karyotype with 2 n = 46 clearly belongs to H. bowringii (see Kupriyanova and Darevski 1989). Sporadic presence of triploid populations with 3 n = 60 has been found in Vietnam (Darevsky et al. 1984). The specimens from Chamela conform to the most common karyotype with 2 n = 40 (Fig. 5). This karyotype is composed of seven pairs of biarmed chromosomes (three large pairs and four pairs of small chromomomes). The remaining chromosomes are telocentrics. This is the first description of the karyotype of this species in the New World. DNA taxonomy: the rDNA 16 S has been studied in specimens from Madagascar by Vences et al. (2004) and in one single specimen from Papua New Guinea (Whiting et al. 2003). The sequence comparison shows that the specimen studied here is almost identical to the one from Oceania (sequence divergence: 0.2%) but differs more from those of Madagascar (sequence divergence: 0.8���3.1%). Oceania is believed to represent the centre of origin of the species from which it spreads worldwide due to human movements. The close relationships among the two haplotypes agree with a recent arrival of the species in Mexico. In fact, H. frenatus was probably introduced during the Spaniard dominium of Mexico. The importation likely dates to the time when Spanish galleons carried trade goods between Acapulco and the Philippines (Taylor 1940)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on pages 12-13, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Burt, C. E. & Myers, G. S. (1942) Neotropical lizards in the collection of the Natural History Museum of Stanford University. Stanford University Publications, University Series, Biological Sciences, 8, 273 - 324.","Kupriyanova, L. A. & Darevski, I. S. (1989). Karyotypic Uniformity in east Asian populations of Hemidactylus frenatus. Journal of Herpetology, 23, 294 - 296.","Darevsky, I. S., Kupriyanova, L. A. & Roshchin, V. V. (1984) A new all-female triploid species of gecko and karyological data on the bisexual Hemidactylus frenatus from Vietnam. Journal of Herpetology, 18, 277 - 284.","Vences, M., Wanke, S., Vieites, D. R., Branch, W. R., Glaw, F. & Meyer, A. (2004) Natural colonization or introduction? Phylogeographical relationships and morphological differentiation of house geckos (Hemidactylus) from Madagascar. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 83, 115 - 130.","Whiting, A. S., Bauer, A. M. & Sites Jr., J. W. (2003) Phylogenetic relationships and limb loss in sub-Saharan African scincine lizards (Squamata: Scincidae), Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 29, 582 - 598.","Taylor, E. H. (1940) Mexican snakes of the genus Typhlops. University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 26, 441 - 444."]}

Phyllodactylus lanei Smith (Lane's Leaf-toed Gecko) Specimens analyzed: one male (CEAC 3), one female (CEAC 4). Distribution: a Mexican endemic, with records from Nayarit, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Michoac��n, and possibly Colima. Subspecies: P. l. lanei: Guerrero; P. l. rupinus: Nayarit, coastal Jalisco, southern Michoac��n; and two insular Subspecies: P. l. lupitae and P. l. isabelae (Castro-Franco & Uribe-Pena 1992). Karyotype: karyological data in P. l a n e i were restricted to a report that described karyotypes of specimens from the state of Guerrero, that probably belong to P. l. lanei, 2 n = 33���34 and FN = 40���41 (King 1981). The karyotype of specimens from Chamela region belonging to P. l. rupinus has been recently described (Castiglia et al. 2009). It shows 2 n = 38 and FN = 38, composed of 19 pairs of acrocentric chromosomes. Thus the karyptypes belonging to the two subspecies differ by the presence of two pairs of large metacentric chromosomes in P. l. l a n e i that are absent in P. l. rupinus. The slight difference in the fundamental number found in the two samples is probably due to a different interpretation of the very small short arms (see Castiglia et al. 2009 for details). Moreover, in the karyotype from Guerrero, a pair of heteromorphic chromosomes was also observed. In females, one of the homologues of this pair was described as bi-armed (with tiny short arms) and this was considered, by the author, a possible ZW sex chromosome system. However, in the studied individuals from Chamela, no chromosome pairs showed a visible heteromorphic condition (Castiglia et al. 2009). DNA taxonomy: a single sequence (rDNA 16 S) of P. l a n e i from Guerrero is available in GeneBank (Blair et al. 2009). This sequence possibly belongs to P. l. lanei. The genetic divergence between the haplotypes from Chamela and those from Guerrero is relatively high, (8.4���8.7%; 449 bp). This divergence is similar to that found among three insular subspecies belong to P. wirshingi, which are considered full species by Weiss and Hedges (2007). Because of the high chromosomal and genetic differences found between the specimens from Guerrero and Jalisco, is plausible the elevation of P. l. rupinus to a specific rank. However, molecular analysis from the type locality of P. l. rupinus (Lombardia, Michoacan, Mexico) are needed before any definitive taxonomic change can be made., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 11, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Castro-Franco R. & Uribe-Pena, Z. (1992) Two new subspecies of Phyllodactylus lanei (Sauria: Gekkonidae). Anales del Instituto de Biologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Serie Zoologia, 63, 113 - 123.","King, M. (1981) Chromosome change and speciation in lizards. In: Atchley, W. R. & Woodruff, D. S. (Eds.), Evolution and Speciation. Cambridge, University Press, pp. 262 - 285.","Castiglia, R, Aguayo, A. G., Bezerra, A. M. R., Flores-Villela, O. & Gournung, E. (2009) Karyotypic diversification due to Robertsonian rearrangements in Phyllodactylus lanei Smith, 1935 (Squamata, Gekkonidae) from Mexico. Atti della Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rendiconti Lincei, Scienze Fisiche e Naturali, 20, 77 - 82.","Blair, C., Mendez de La Cruz, F. R., Ngo, A., Lindell, J., Lathrop, A. & Murphy, R. W. (2009) Molecular phylogenetics and taxonomy of leaf-toed geckos (Phyllodactylidae: Phyllodactylus) inhabiting the peninsula of Baja California. Zootaxa, 2027, 28 - 42.","Weiss, A. J. & Hedges, S. B. (2007) Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the Antillean geckos Phyllodactylus wirshingi, Tarentola americana, and Hemidactylus haitianus (Reptilia, Squamata). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 45, 409 - 416."]}

Coleonyx elegans Gray (Yucatan Banded Gecko) Specimens analysed: one female (CEAC 8), two specimens from Pet��n, Guatemala (UTA R 50283, UTA R 50286). Distribution: Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Subspecies: C. e. elegans Gray distributed from central Veracruz, Mexico to northern Guatemala and Belize and on the Pacific coast from eastern Chiapas, Guatemala to western El Salvador; C. e. nemoralis Klauber is localized along the Pacific coast of Mexico from Nayarit to southeast Oaxaca. Following Klauber (1945), the diagnostic characters distinguishing the two subspecies of the Yucatan Banded Gecko are a non-triangular mental and the upper prenasals in contact in C. elegans elegans; the mental is usually triangular, the prenasals are usually not in contact, and there are fewer tubercular scales laterally in C. e. nemorali s. The studied specimen from Chamela is within the range of C. e. nemoralis, however, it represents intermediate morphological characters since the mental is clearly not triangular and since the upper prenasals are not in contact. Karyotype: this is the first description of the karyotype for this species. It shows 2 n = 31 and FN = 32 (Fig. 4). The karyotype is composed of one single unpaired metacentric (the largest chromosome) and 30 acrocentric chromosomes. The metacentric chromosome clearly represents a Robertsonian fusion of two acrocentric chromosomes. Among the species studied, this karyotype is most similar to that described for C. variegatus, with a 2 n= 32 all-acrocentric karyotype, but differs considerably from C. switaki (2 n = 24, FN = 26). Therefore, it is the first instance of chromosomal heteromorphism reported for Eublepharidae. Few cases of heteromorphism due to Robertsonian fusion or fission have been reported in Gekkonidae, e.g., in Gehyra australis and G. variegata (King 1984), in Gekko chinensis Lau et al. (1997), in Phyllodactylus lanei (see below) and in Christinus marmoratus (King & Rofe 1976). Clearly, additional data will be necessary to understand if this chromosomal heteromorphism represents a sex chromosome system, hybridization between chromosomal cytotypes or an intra-population autosomal polymorphism. DNA taxonomy: only one rDNA 16 S sequence from C. elegans is present in GenBank (Jonniaux & Kumazawa 2008) but the studied specimen belonged to a pet-shop (Yoshi Kumazawa, pers. comm.). For this reason we include two specimens from Pet��n (Guatemala) belonging to the other subspecies, C. e. elegans. The sequence of the specimen from Chamela differs by 4.5% with respect to the other haplotypes that are, conversely, very similar. This level of divergence is high but lower relative to that found between different species (C. variegatus vs C. brevis, 9.8%; C. mitratus vs C. elegans, 14 ���15.2%). In absence of additional data these results are in agreement with a subspecific status of the populations from Jalisco and Guatemala., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on pages 10-11, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Klauber, L. M. (1945) The geckos of the genus Coleonyx with descriptions of new subspecies. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History, 10, 133 - 216.","King, M. (1984) Karyotypic evolution in Gehyra (Gekkonidae: Reptilia) IV. Chromosome change and speciation. Genetica, 64, 101 - 114.","Lau, M. W., Ota, H. & Bogadek, A. (1997) Chromosomal polymorphism and karyotype of Gekko chinensis (Gekkonidae: Reptilia) from Hong Kong. Journal of Herpetology, 31, 137 - 139.","King, M. & Rofe, R. (1976) Karyotypic variation in the Australian Gekko Phyllodactylus marmoratus (Gray) (Gekkonidae: Reptilia). Chromosoma, 54, 75 - 87.","Jonniaux, P. & Kumazawa, Y. (2008) Molecular phylogenetic and dating analyses using mitochondrial DNA sequences of eyelid geckos (Squamata: Eublepharidae). Gene, 407, 105 - 115."]}

Gerrhonotus cf. liocephalus Wiegmann (Texas alligator lizard) Specimens analysed: one male (CEAC 7). Distribution: uncertain limits. Maybe limited to Jalisco and Colima. Subspecies: Good (1994) did not recognize subspecies. Good (1994) studied only two specimens belonging to coastal Jalisco. Here we report a morphological description of the male specimen that we studied. In particular, we report the characters that are significant for the morphological diagnosis of Gerrhonotus species following Good (1994). Canthal/loreal series: 3 canthals, 3 loreals; supralabial number: 28; preocular number: 1; number of transverse dorsal scales rows: 48; number of longitudinal dorsal scales: 16; number of dorsal crossbands: 9; ventral pattern: mottled; lateral fold bars: present; limb length: not measured; tail whorl number: tail incomplete. The pattern of coloration shows 9 evident ���V��� shaped cross-bands. Each of these bands has a width of 2���3 white scales, flanked by darker scales. The ventral pattern is immaculate. The morphological characters of this specimen collected by us are similar to the other three specimens from Jalisco and Colima reported by Good (1994). Karyotype: Gerrhonotus cf. liocephalus showed 2 n = 38 composed by 14 macrochromosomes and 24 microcromosomes (not shown). All macrochromosomes seem biarmed but, for the smallest ones, some doubt exists on their morphology. The karyotype of this species shares with E. coerulea the same diploid number but it has only 12 machrochromosomes. DNA taxonomy: the phylogenetic position of species of Gerrhonotus was recently addressed by Conroy et al. (2005). A fragment of the NADH dehydrogenase 2 gene and flanking regions (511 bp) was sequenced and aligned with published sequences of G. liocephalus, G. infernalis and G. parvus. The sequences of the specimen analysed here clustered with the two sequences belonging to G. infernalis (bootstrap values 70��� 75 %) (Fig. 3). However, the sequence divergence with this species is high (9.6%). A similar divergence was found between G. liocephalus and G. infernalis (10 %). These findings, together with the distinct morphological characteristics of the specimens in the area of Chamela (present work and Good 1994), support its identity as a taxon different from the two mentioned above (Nieto Montes de Oca, unpublished)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on pages 8-9, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Good, D. A. (1994) Species limits in the genus Gerrhonotus (Squamata: Anguidae). Herpetological Monographs, 8, 180 - 202.","Conroy, C. J., Bryson Jr., R. W., Lazcano, D. & Knight, A. (2005) Phylogenetic placement of the pygmy alligator lizard based on mitochondrial DNA. Journal of Herpetology, 39, 142 - 147."]}

Urosaurus bicarinatus Dum��ril (Tropical tree lizard) Specimens analysed: one male from Chamela (CEAC 19), one specimen from Rio Grande, Oaxaca (MZFC 12046), one specimen from Epatlan, Puebla (MZFC 6863). Distribution: Mexican endemic. Pacific coast of Mexico, from Sonora to Chiapas. Subspecies: U. b. bicarinatus, distributed from Michoac��n to central Guerrero, and in the R��o Balsas basin up to Morelos and southern Puebla; U. b. anonymorphus, found in east Guerrero, Oaxaca, and possibly western Chiapas; U. b. nelsoni, localized in northern Oaxaca; U. b. tuberculatus, distributed in Southern Sonora southward to Jalisco and Colima with isolated populations in Sinaloa; U. b. spinosus, from southwestern Chiapas. However, Wiens (1993) did not find morphological differences among the subspecies. Karyotype: Unfortunately, we did not obtained good metaphases from this species. DNA taxonomy: There is no sequence deposited in GenBank for this species. The available rDNA 16 S sequences in GenBank are for U. ornatus, U. nigricaudus, U. microscutatus, and U. graciosus (Reeder 1995). We aligned these sequences with the sequence of U. bicarinatus from Chamela belonging to U. b. tuberculatus and with sequences from two additional individuals (Rio Grande, Oaxaca and Epatlan, Puebla) possibly belonging to U. b. nelsoni and performed a phylogenetic analysis using Sceloporus utiformis as the outgroup. The obtained tree is shown in Figure 8. Interestingly, the phylogenetic relationships among species are different from those identified using morphological characters by Wiens (1993) and are congruent with Reeder���s (1995) results. Molecular analysis shows that U. bicarinatus has an external position with respect to the other species, which form a monophyletic group (supported only by NJ, 62 %). Moreover in our tree U. ornatus is clearly the sister species of U. graciosus (supported by 87���99 %). Conversely, phylogenetic relationships based on morphological characters show that U. graciosus was external to U. bicarinatus, U. nigricaudus, U. ornatus and U. microscutatus (Wiens 1993). The topology obtained with molecular data is congruent with the distribution of the species. U. bicarinatus is nested in the southern part of the range of the genus while the other species, which cluster together in the tree, are localized in the northern part. The highest interspecific distance has been found between U. bicarinatus and the other species (8.4��� 9.4%), while lower values have been found between the other species (3.5���7.7%). A low divergence value (1.8%) was found between sequences of the Rio Grande (Oaxaca) and Epatlan (Puebla) populations of U. bicarinatus. Greater distance was found between these two localities and the sequences from Chamela (4.3��� 4.5%) belonging to a different subspecies. In the absence of additional data, it is very difficult to infer a conclusion regarding the taxonomic status of the Chamela population. These findings suggest that a complete intra and interspecific revision of the genus is needed using additional molecular markers., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 16, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Wiens, J. J. (1993) Phylogenetic Systematics of the Tree Lizards (genus Urosaurus). Herpetologica, 49, 399 - 420.","Reeder, T. W. (1995) Phylogenetic relationships among phrynosomatid lizards as inferred from mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequences: substitutional bias and information content of transitions relative to transversions. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 4, 203 - 222."]}

Sceloporus melanorhinus Bocourt (Pastel Tree Lizard) Specimens analysed: two females (CEAC 18, CEAC 17), one male (CEAC 15). Distribution: Pacific coast of Mexico, from Jalisco to central depression of Chiapas, and adjacent Guatemala. Subspecies: S. m. melanorhinus, Pacific coast of Oaxaca; S. m. calligaster, from Nayarit, to Guerrero; S. m. stuarti, central depression of Chiapas, and adjacent Guatemala. Karyotype and DNA taxonomy: intraspecific variation in karyotype has been reported in this species (Cole 1970; Hall 1973; 2009). Males have 2 n = 39 (20 macrochromosomes, 19 microcromosomes) while females 2 n = 40 (20 macrochromosomes, 20 microchromosomes). The odd chromosomal number in males is due to presence of a medium sized metacentric Y chromosomes probably generated by the centric fusion of one autosomal acrocentric and a true Y microchromosome. In fact, males show the presence of a trivalent formation in males diakinesis corresponding to an X 1 X 2 Y (Hall 1973; 2009). Moreover, another chromosomal polymorphism was noted since the species is polymorphic for an enlarged microchromosome (Em). Of seven S. melanorhinus karyotyped by Cole (1970), two of three individuals from one locality near Acapulco (Guerrero) were heterozygous for the Em, while the third individual from that locality and the remaining four from Tuxtla Gutierrez (Chiapas) and in a female near Colima lacked it. Of the six S. melanorhinus karyotyped by Hall (1973), only one from Rio Maria Basio, western Manzanillo (Colima), was heterozygous Em; while all of the remaining specimens, representing a second locality near Manzanillo and two localities near San Bias (Nayarit), lacked the Em chromosome. This chromosomal variation due to Em chromosome does not match with subspecies designation, because different karyotypes have been found even in the same population. The three specimens studied here shown two different karyotypes. The two females shows a karyotype with 20 macro- and 20 microchromosomes (not shown). In the male (CEAC 15 - Fig. 6), the karyotype shows the additional medium-sized unpaired and biarmed chromosome identified by Hall (2009) as the Y chromosome. The enlarged microchromosome (Em) is lacking in the specimens here analyzed. The rDNA 16 S has been studied for a single specimens from Guerrero, S of Chilpancingo (Wiens & Reeder 1997). The divergence between the specimen from Chamela and that from Guerrero is 3 %, a value found commonly among populations of the same species in reptiles., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on pages 13-14, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Hall, W. P. (1973) Comparative population cytogenetics, speciation and evolution of the iguanid lizard genus Sceloporus. PhD Thesis, Harvard University.","Hall, W. P. (2009) Chromosome variation, genomics, speciation and evolution in Sceloporus lizards. Cytogenetic and Genome Research, 127, 143 - 165.","Wiens, J. J. & Reeder, T. W. (1997) Phylogeny f the spiny lizards. Herpetological Monographs, 11, 1 - 101."]}

Aspidoscelis communis Cope (Colima giant whiptail) Specimen analysed: two specimens (CEAC 26, CEAC 30). Distribution: Mexican endemic, distributed along the Pacific coast from Jalisco to Michoacán. Subspecies: Aspidoscelis communis mariarum (Günther) and Aspidoscelis communis communis (Cope). Karyotype: the karyotype of this species was reported by Lowe et al. (1970) as 2 n = 46 and it was not studied again in the present study. DNA taxonomy: the phylogenetic position of this species has not previously been ascertained using molecular markers and sequences of this species are not present in GenBank. We aligned the rDNA 16 S sequences with all the so far studied Aspidoscelis species obtained from GenBank (39 sequences). A partial tree is shown in Figure 14. The phylogenetic analysis indicate that A. communis belongs to the “ sexlineata ” group (bootstrap support 92–97 %). This confirms the affinities found on morphological and chromosomal ground (Reeder et al. 2002). In particular, it is included in a clade with A. burti, A. costatus and A. gularis but the relationships within this clade are supported only by NJ (61 %) and MP (54 %). Genetic divergence within this group is relatively low, ranging from 1.1 to 5.6%., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., García, Andrés & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 24, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Lowe, C. H., Wright, J. W., Cole, C. J. & Bezy, R. L. (1970) Chromosomes and evolution of the species groups of Cnemidophorus (Reptilia: Teiidae). Systematic Zoology, 19, 128 - 141.","Reeder, T. W., Cole, C. J. & Dessauer, H. C. (2002) Phylogenetic relationships of whiptail lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae): a test of monophyly, reevaluation of karyotypic evolution, and review of hybrid origins. American Museum Novitates, 3365, 1 - 61."]}

Sceloporus Wiegmann The genus Sceloporus includes about 80 species of spiny lizards distributed from southern Canada south to Panama (Sites et al. 1992). In many areas, Sceloporus represents an abundant and conspicuous genus of terrestrial vertebrates. For this reason it has often been subject of researches in many field of biology. Recent phylogenies of the genus based on morphology, karyotypes, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (Flores-Villela et al. 2000; Wiens and Reeder 1997) revealed the existence of different species groups and the inclusion of the genus ��� Sator ��� within Sceloporus. The karyotype of the genus is highly variable, with the diploid number ranging from 22 to 40 and the presence of sex chromosomes systems (with XY or X 1 X 2 Y males) (data from the ������chromorep������ database available at site http://www.scienze.univpm.it/professori/chromorep.pdf.)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 13, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Sites Jr., J. W., Archie, J. W., Cole, C. J. & Flores-Villela, O. (1992) A review of phylogenetic hypotheses for lizards of the genus Sceloporus (Phrynosomatidae): implications for ecological and evolutionary studies. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 213, 1 - 110.","Flores-Villela, O., Kjer, K. M., Benabib, M. & Sites, J. W. Jr. (2000) Multiple data sets, congruence, and hypothesis testing for the phylogeny of the basal groups of the lizard genus Sceloporus (Squamata: Phrynosomatidae). Systematic Biology, 49, 713 - 739.","Wiens, J. J. & Reeder, T. W. (1997) Phylogeny f the spiny lizards. Herpetological Monographs, 11, 1 - 101."]}

Coleonyx Gray The genus Coleonyx includes seven species of terrestrial geckos commonly referred to as banded geckos. These species are found throughout the south-western United States of America and northern Mexico south into Central America to Costa Rica (Klauber 1945). Phylogenetic relationships for four species within the genus were assessed by Jonniaux and Kumazawa (2008). Among Eublepharidae the karyotype is known for 4 species only: C. switaki (2 n = 24; FN = 26) (Murphy 1974), C. variegatus (2 n = 32; FN = 32) (Matthey 1933; Porter et al. 1994), Eublepharis macularius (2 n = 38; FN = 38) (Gorman 1973), and Goniurosaurus kuroiwae (2 n = 24) (Ota et al. 1987)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on pages 9-10, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Klauber, L. M. (1945) The geckos of the genus Coleonyx with descriptions of new subspecies. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History, 10, 133 - 216.","Jonniaux, P. & Kumazawa, Y. (2008) Molecular phylogenetic and dating analyses using mitochondrial DNA sequences of eyelid geckos (Squamata: Eublepharidae). Gene, 407, 105 - 115.","Murphy, R. W. (1974) A new genus and species of eublepharine gecko (Sauria: Gekkonidae) from Baja California, Mexico. Proceedings of the California Academy of Science, 40, 87 - 92.","Matthey, R. (1933) Nouvelle contribution a 1 ' etude des chromosomes chez les Sauriens. Revue Suisse de Zoologie, 40, 281 - 316.","Porter, C. A., Haiduk, M. W. & Queiroz, K. (1994) Evolution and phylogenetic significance of Ribosomal gene location in chromosomes of squamate reptiles. Copeia, 2, 302 - 313.","Gorman, G. C. (1973) The chromosomes of the Reptilia, a cytotaxonomic interpretation. In: Chiarelli, A. B. & Capanna, E. (Eds.), Cytotaxonomy and Vertebrate Evolution. Academic Press, New York, pp. 349 - 424.","Ota, H., Matsui, M., Hikida, T. & Tanaka, S. (1987) Karyotype of a gekkonid lizard, Eublepharis kuroiwae kuroiwae. Experientia, 43, 924 - 925."]}

Mabuya unimarginata Cope (Central American mabuya) Specimens analysed: one female from Chamela (MZFC 21804). Distribution: from Jalisco on the Pacific coast and from Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico south to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Subspecies: no subspecies have been described. Karyotype: the karyotype of M. unimarginata is here described for the first time (Fig. 12). It has 2 n = 32 with 18 macro- and 36 microchromosomes. Among the macrochromosomes it can be possible to identify two groups of chromosomes. The first group consists of four pairs of large biarmed chromosomes. The second group includes five pairs of smaller chromosomes arranged as three submetacentric pairs of and two acrocentric pairs. The karyotype here described is distinctive among the Neotropical species of Mabuya already studied. In fact, the species that share the same chromosomal number (M. caissara and M. macrorhyncha) have the macrochromosomal complement constituted of all metacentric chromosomes while M. unimarginata have two pairs of acrocentrics macrochromosomes (pairs 8 and 9) (Colus & Ferrari 1988). The presence of acrocentric chromosomes in M. unimarginata could be a characteristic specific to this species. DNA taxonomy: a fragment of the cyt b sequence (350 bp) was aligned with the other sequences available in GenBank (belonging to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Guerrero, Mexico and Oaxaca) (Miralles et al. 2009). The specimens from Chamela represents the northernmost locality sampled for the species. The phylogenetic relationships among haplotypes do not reveal any geographic pattern. However, the genetic divergence observed within this species is high. The divergence ranges from 4 % to 10 %. The haplotype from Chamela is also divergent respect to all the others (6.3–9.5%). These values are of the same magnitude found among different species in Mabuya (min–max: 4.08–17.51, Miralles et al. 2009). These data suggest that M. unimarginata may constitute a species complex (Miralles et al. 2009). Alternatively, it can constitute a rare but not unique case of a species showing a high divergence in mtDNA (e.g Jesus et al. 2006). For this species we also sequenced a fragment of the 16 S rDNA (502 bp). A phylogenetic tree was built with other representative species of Mabuya from South America (dataset by Mausfeld et al. 2002.) including a sequence by M. unimarginata from Honduras (Honda et al. 2003). The results show a divergence of 3.2% between the samples of M. unimarginata from Chamela and Honduras. Interestingly these sequences are also very similar to the Mabuya mabouya sequence from Tobago, with 3.4% divergence. The three sequences cluster together but the two haplotypes belonging to M. unimarginata do not cluster together because of the internal position of Mabuya mabouya. The simplest explanation for this pattern is that perhaps the haplotype from Tobago belongs to M. unimarginata and not to M. mabouya. These two species are very similar in morphology and cannot be easily recognized in the field. If this is the case, this finding represents the first report of M. unimarginata from Tobago., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., García, Andrés & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on pages 19-20, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Colus, I. M. S. & Ferrari, I. (1988) Mitotic and meiotic chromosomes of Mabuya (Scincidae: Reptilia). Genetica, 77, 105 - 111.","Miralles, A., Rivas Fuenmayor, G., Bonillo, C., Schargel, W. E., Barros, T., Garcia-Perez, J. & Barrio-Amoros, C. L. (2009). Molecular systematics of Caribbean skinks of the genus Mabuya (Reptilia, Scincidae), with descriptions of two new species from Venezuela. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 156: 598 - 616.","Jesus, J., Brehm A. & Harris D. J. (2006) Phylogenetic relationships of Lygodactylus geckos from the Gulf of Guinea islands: Rapid rates of mitochondrial DNA sequence evolution? Herpetological Journal, 16, 291 - 295.","Mausfeld P., Schmitz, A., Bohme, W., Misof, B., Vrcibradic, D. & Rocha, C. F. D. (2002). Phylogenetic affinities of Mabuya atlantica Schmidt, 1945, endemic to the Atlantic Ocean archipelago of Fernando de Noronha (Brazil): necessity of partitioning the genus Mabuya Fitzinger, 1826 (Scincidae: Lygosominae). Zoolgischer Anzeiger, 241, 281 - 293.","Honda, M., Ota, H., Kohler, G., Ineich, I., Chirio, L., Chen, S. L. & Hikida, T. (2003) Phylogeny of the lizard subfamily Lygosominae (Reptilia: Scincidae), with special reference to the origin of the New World taxa, Genes & Genetic Systems, 78, 71 - 80."]}

Aspidoscelis lineattissima (Cope) (Many-lined whiptail) Distribution: Mexican endemic. Widespread along the Pacific coast, from Nayarit to Michoacán. Subspecies: Aspidoscelis l. duodecemlineatus (Lewis), A. l. exoristus (Duellman & Wellman), A. l. lineattissima (Cope), A. l. lividis (Duellman & Wellman). Karyotype: The karyotype of this species has been studied by Lowe et al. (1970), who reported a 2 n = 52 to be typical of the “ deppei ” group. It was not studied again in this study. DNA taxonomy: The phylogenetic position of this species has not been studied with molecular markers. The phylogenetic tree confirms the placement of A. lineattissima within the “ deppei ” group (Reeder et al. 2002) (Fig. 14). In fact, A. lineattissima results as sister species of A. deppei (bootstrap values 63–91 %) within a clade that also includes A. guttatus (66 % with NJ and 63 % with ML). This is the first report of a relationship between A. lineattissima and A. deppei., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., García, Andrés & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 24, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Lowe, C. H., Wright, J. W., Cole, C. J. & Bezy, R. L. (1970) Chromosomes and evolution of the species groups of Cnemidophorus (Reptilia: Teiidae). Systematic Zoology, 19, 128 - 141.","Reeder, T. W., Cole, C. J. & Dessauer, H. C. (2002) Phylogenetic relationships of whiptail lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae): a test of monophyly, reevaluation of karyotypic evolution, and review of hybrid origins. American Museum Novitates, 3365, 1 - 61."]}

Genus Aspidoscelis Fitzinger Species of the genus Aspidoscelis were previously included in Cnemidophorus, but based upon divergent morphological, molecular and enzymatic characters the two genera were recognized as separate (Reeder et al. 2002). Thus, Aspidoscelis is resurrected for the North American ‘‘ Cnemidophorus ’’ clade containing 87 species included in the deppei, sexlineata, and tigris species groups (and the unisexual taxa associated with them). Aspidoscelis occurs throughout most of North America (except Canada), reaching the East and West Coasts of the United States, and ranging south through all Mexico and into Central America. The species groups differ also for their karyotypes. A 2 n = 52 is observed in the deppei group, a 2 n = 46 in the sexlineata group and a 2 n = 46 with XY sex chromosomal system in the tigris group. Lowe et al. (1970) suggested a chromosomal evolution pattern through a reduction of the diploid number. This view has been slightly modified by Reeder et al. (2002), who considered that the ancestor probably had a karyotype of 2 n = 50., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., García, Andrés & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 23, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Reeder, T. W., Cole, C. J. & Dessauer, H. C. (2002) Phylogenetic relationships of whiptail lizards of the genus Cnemidophorus (Squamata: Teiidae): a test of monophyly, reevaluation of karyotypic evolution, and review of hybrid origins. American Museum Novitates, 3365, 1 - 61.","Lowe, C. H., Wright, J. W., Cole, C. J. & Bezy, R. L. (1970) Chromosomes and evolution of the species groups of Cnemidophorus (Reptilia: Teiidae). Systematic Zoology, 19, 128 - 141."]}

Phyllodactylus Gray The genus Phyllodactylus was formerly included in a diverse group of leaf-toed geckos occurring all-over the world. Currently and on the basis of morphological and allozyme phylogenetic analyses, several lineages of Old World leaf-toed geckos are proposed as distinct genera, such as Afrogecko (southern Africa), Christinus (Australia), Cryptactites (southern Africa), Goggia (southern Africa), Dixonius (southeast Asia), Euleptes (Mediterranean), Haemodracon (Sokotra), and Matoatoa (Madagascar) (Bauer et al. 1997; Gamble et al. 2008). The species within the genus Phyllodactylus sensu stricto are now constrained to the New World. Nonetheless, although there are more than 50 species in the genus, molecular genetic and karyological data are very scant, with rDNA 16 S sequences reported in less than ten species (Weiss & Hedges 2007; Blair et al. 2009)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 11, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Bauer, A. M., Good D. A. & Branch, W. R. (1997) The taxonomy of the southern African leaf-toed geckos (Squamata: Gekkonidae), with a review of Old World \" Phyllodactylus \" and the description of five new genera. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 49: 447 - 497.","Gamble, T., Bauer, A. M., Greenbaum, E. & Jackman, T. R. (2008) Out of the blue: a novel, trans-Atlantic clade of geckos (Gekkota, Squamata). Zoologica Scripta, 37, 355 - 366.","Weiss, A. J. & Hedges, S. B. (2007) Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the Antillean geckos Phyllodactylus wirshingi, Tarentola americana, and Hemidactylus haitianus (Reptilia, Squamata). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 45, 409 - 416.","Blair, C., Mendez de La Cruz, F. R., Ngo, A., Lindell, J., Lathrop, A. & Murphy, R. W. (2009) Molecular phylogenetics and taxonomy of leaf-toed geckos (Phyllodactylidae: Phyllodactylus) inhabiting the peninsula of Baja California. Zootaxa, 2027, 28 - 42."]}

Ameiva undulata Wiegmann (Rainbow Ameiva) Specimens analysed: One female (CEAC 25), one specimen from Tuxtepec, Oaxaca (ENS 10011) one specimen from Peten, Guatemala (UTA R 50334). Distribution: From southern Tamaulipas and Jalisco Mexico to Costa Rica on both coasts. Subspecies: geographical morphological variation is reported in this species. However the last taxonomic review of Ameiva in Central America does not recognize any subspecies (Echternacht 1971). Karyotype: the karyotype of A. undulata has not been reported yet. All chromosomes were 2 n = 50 and all were telocentric with 26 macro- and 24 microchromosomes (Fig. 13). This karyotype may represent the ancestral condition for the genus. DNA taxonomy: the 16 S sequence (490 bp) obtained from the specimens from Chamela was aligned with a dataset including other 18 Ameiva species including A. undulata from the Izabal Province, Guatemala (Hower & Hedges 2003). We also include sequences obtained from two additional samples of A. undulata (one from Tuxtepec, Oaxaca and another from Peten, Guatemala). Considering their geographic provenience, the studied specimens of A. undulata correspond to three different morphological forms found by in Echternacht (1971). The genetic divergence among the haplotypes from different locality is relatively high (3.7 – 5.9%). The most basal haplotype is the one from the Izabal Province, Guatemala. Its genetic divergence from the other haplotypes (5.4–5.9%) is even greater than those found between pairs of sister species in Ameiva. For example, the divergence between A. exsul and A. wetmorei is 3.9% while between A. lineolata and A. maynardi is 2.8%. However there is not a relationship among the genetic divergence and the morphological forms revealed by Echternacht (1971) in Mexico. Therefore, the high genetic difference within A. undulata warrents additional study., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., García, Andrés & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 22, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Echternacht, A. C. (1971) Middle American lizards of the genus Ameiva (Teiidae) with emphasis on geographic variation. M iscellaneous publication, University of Kansas. Museum of Natural History. 55, 1 - 86.","Hower, L. M. & Hedges, S. B. (2003) Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of West Indian Teiid lizards of the genus Ameiva. Caribbean Journal of Science, 39, 298 - 306."]}

Ameiva Duméril and Bibron Lizards of the genus Ameiva (Teiidae) include 34 species found throughout the West Indies and in Central and South America. Phylogenetic relationships and biogeography were investigated with sequences from portions of the 12 S and 16 S mitochondrial rRNA genes of sixteen West Indian species and three Central and South American species (Hower & Hedges 2003). The results evidenced that the West Indian species form a monophyletic group that diverged from the mainland species approximately 25–30 million years ago. Currently, only six species of Ameiva have been karyotyped. The most common karyotype in the genus is characterized by having 2 n = 50 with 26 macro- and 24 microchromosomes. The karyotypes of the previously studied species differ by the presence of biarmed chromosomes in the macrochromosomal complement (data from the ‘‘chromorep’’ database available at site http://www.scienze.univpm.it/professori/chromorep.pdf.). Thus, in A. ameiva and A. exsul, all the macrochromosomes are telocentrics. In A. chrysolaema, there are three pairs of biarmed chromosomes and in A. dorsalis and A. maynardi there are two pairs of biarmed chromosomes (Gorman 1970; Peccinini-Seale & Almeida 1986)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., García, Andrés & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 21, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Hower, L. M. & Hedges, S. B. (2003) Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of West Indian Teiid lizards of the genus Ameiva. Caribbean Journal of Science, 39, 298 - 306.","Gorman, G. C. (1970) Chromosomes and the systematica systematics of the family Teiidae (Sauria, Reptilia). Copeia, 1970, 230 - 245.","Peccinini-Seale, D. & Almeida, T. M. B. (1986) Chromosomal variation, nucleolar organizers and constitutive heterochromatin in the genus Ameiva and Cnemidophorus (Sauria, Teiidae). Caryologia, 39, 227 - 237."]}

Gerrhonotus Wiegmann The genus Gerrhonotus has a very problematic taxonomy, both at an intra- and interspecific levels. Good (1994) recognized three species, without subspecies, namely, G. infernalis, G. liocephalus and G. ophiurus (sometimes reported as subspecies of G. liocephalus). Recently Elgaria parva was included in a molecular phylogenetic analysis with other Gerrhonotus species, and it resulted in belonging to this genus (= Gerrhonotus parvus) (Conroy et al. 2005). The populations from Jalisco-Colima are reported as G. liocephalus (Garc��a & Ceballos 1994; Ram��rez-Bautista 1994) but they are studied from two specimens only. Their morphological characters are intermediate among G. liocephalus, G. infernalis and G. ophiurus and therefore they remained of uncertain identity and referred to G. cf. liocephalus by Good (1994). Individuals possibly belonging to this taxon were also found in Colima, Durango and Sinaloa. No species of this genus has been karyotyped. The karyotype is known only for three species of Elgaria and one species of Mesaspis, which also belongs to the subfamily Gerrhonotinae (Bury et al. 1969). These species show inter and intraspecific chromosomal variability. Elgaria coerulea has 2 n = 38 (12 macro- and 26 microchromosomes); Elgaria multicarinata has 2 n = 47���48 (21���22 macro- and 26 microchromosomes); Elgaria paucicarinata has 2 n = 46 (20 macro- and 26 microchromosomes); Mesaspis monticola has 2 n = 30 (18 macro- and 12 microchromosomes)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 6, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Good, D. A. (1994) Species limits in the genus Gerrhonotus (Squamata: Anguidae). Herpetological Monographs, 8, 180 - 202.","Conroy, C. J., Bryson Jr., R. W., Lazcano, D. & Knight, A. (2005) Phylogenetic placement of the pygmy alligator lizard based on mitochondrial DNA. Journal of Herpetology, 39, 142 - 147.","Garcia, A. & Ceballos, G. (1994) Guia de campo de los reptiles y anfibios de la costa de Jalisco, Mexico / Field guide to the reptiles and amphibians of the coast of Jalisco, Mexico. Fundacion Ecologica of Cuixmala and Instituto de Biologia, UNAM, Mexico City Mexico. University Press, New York, EUA, 184 pp.","Ramirez-Bautista, A. (1994) Manual y claves ilustradas de los anfibios y reptiles de la region de Chamela, Jalisco, Mexico. Cuadernos del Instituto de Biologia, N. 23, UNAM, Mexico, 127 pp."]}

Sceloporus utiformis Cope (Cope's largescale spiny lizard) Specimens analysed: three males (CEAC 12, CEAC 13, CAEC 14) Distribution: Mexican endemic. It is distributed along the Pacific slope from southern Sinaloa to western Guerrero. Subspecies: no subspecies have been described. Karyotype and DNA taxonomy: the karyotype for this species has been described from two specimens, one male and one female, both from Jalisco in a locality (northwest of Puerto Los Mazos) about 70 Km from Chamela (Cole 1971). The diploid number was 2 n = 34 and the male carried a heteromorphic pair of microchromomes that were not present in the female. This polymorphism has been interpreted as a XY sex chromosomal system (Cole 1971). The specimens analysed in this study show a karyotype identical to the one previously reported (Fig. 7). It is composed of 12 biarmed chromosomes and 22 microchromosomes. In these male individuals one of the microchromosomes is very small. Therefore we confirm the presence of a XY sex chromosome system in this species. The rDNA 16 S has been studied for a single specimen from Jalisco (Boca de Iguanas), which is near the locality for specimens in the present study (Wiens & Reeder 1997; Flores-Villela et al. 2000). The from Chamela differ by 3 % from the previous studied sample, which is a low value of divergence consistent with an intraspecific divergence., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Garc��a, Andr��s & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 14, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Cole, C. J. (1971) Karyotypes of the Five Monotypic Species Groups of Lizards in the Genus Sceloporus. American Museum Novitates, 2450, 1 - 17.","Wiens, J. J. & Reeder, T. W. (1997) Phylogeny f the spiny lizards. Herpetological Monographs, 11, 1 - 101.","Flores-Villela, O., Kjer, K. M., Benabib, M. & Sites, J. W. Jr. (2000) Multiple data sets, congruence, and hypothesis testing for the phylogeny of the basal groups of the lizard genus Sceloporus (Squamata: Phrynosomatidae). Systematic Biology, 49, 713 - 739."]}

Plestiodon parvulus Taylor (Southern pigmy skink) Specimens analysed: two males (CEAC 23, CEAC 24) Distribution: Mexican endemic. The species occurs along Pacific coast from Sinaloa to Colima. Subspecies: no subspecies have been described. Karyotype: the karyotype is here described for the first time in this species. The karyotype shows 2 n = 26, with 12 macro- and 14 microchromosomes (Fig. 10). All the macro-chromosomes are biarmed as are four pairs of the microchromosomes. The other microchromosomes are telocentric. This karyotype differs in the morphology of the microchromosomes from other karyotypes of Plestiodon species. For example, the microchromosomes seem all biarmed in P. inexpectatus and P. obsoletus (Caputo et al. 1994). DNA taxonomy: neither gene sequence of P. parvulus is present in GenBank. Therefore, the fragment of the 16 S rRNA sequenced for this study was aligned with available sequences of other congeners (Schmitz et al. 2004) to assess the phylogenetic affinities and genetic distance of this species within the genus. The obtained tree is shown in Figure 11. The results suggest that E. parvulus is the sister species of another Mexican endemic species, P. l y n x e (bootstrap values 71 % with NJ and 58 % with ML). The genetic distance between the two species is 4.5–5.0% and is among the lowest interspecific genetic distance of the analysed dataset. This is the first report of a relationship between these two species (Griffith et al. 2000; Schmitz et al. 2004)., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., García, Andrés & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on pages 18-19, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Caputo, V., Odierna, G. & Aprea, G. (1994) A chromosomal study of Eumeces and Scincus, primitive members of the Scincidae (Reptilia, Squamata). Bolletino di Zoologia, 61, 155 - 162.","Schmitz, A., Mausfeld, P. & Embert, D. (2004) Molecular studies on the genus Eumeces Wiegmann, 1834: phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic implications. Hamadryad, 28, 73 - 89.","Griffith, H., Ngo, A. & Murphy R. W. A. (2000) A Cladistic evaluation of the cosmopolitan genus Eumeces Wiegmann (Reptilia, Squamata, Scincidae). Russian Journal of Herpetology, 7, 1 - 16."]}

Plestiodon Duméril and Bibron The genus Eumeces has been recently split into four genera, namely Pariocela, Eumeces, Eurylepis, and Mesoscincus (Schmitz et al. 2004). Because of priority reasons, the name Plestiodon has been adopted instead of Pariocela for those American species formerly referred to as Eumeces, except for those placed in Mesoscincus (Smith 2005). The differences among the groups were based in part on analyses of chromosomes numbers. A large number of studies showed that all species of the American Plestiodon have 2 n = 26 chromosomes (Deweese & Wright 1970; Wu 1983; Capriglione 1987; Guo & Dong, 1988; Kato et al. 1998), while all the African species of the genus Eumeces are unique in having a constant 2 n = 32 chromosomes (Gorman 1973; Kupriyanova 1973; De Smet 1981; Kupriyanova 1986; Eremchenko et al. 1992; Caputo et al. 1993, 1994; Hassan 1996). The Eurylepis taeniolatus group can be also differentiated from other groups by uniquely having 2 n = 28 chromosomes (Ivanov & Bogdanov 1975; Kupriyanova 1986; Eremchenko et al. 1992). Molecular phylogenetic analysis by Schmitz et al. (2004), which included American species, identified four species groups in Plestiodon: a group comprised of P. anthracinus, P. egregius and, surprisingly, Neoseps reynoldsi; a “ laticeps ” species-group including laticeps, inexpectatus, fasciatus, obsoletus, septentrionalis and obstusirostris; a “ skiltonianus ” species-group with skiltonianus, gilberti and rubricaudatus; a clade composed of the two Mexican species P. brevirostris and P. l y n x e. Following the recent systematic revision of the genus, Plestiodon “ sensu stricto ” contains 41 species. Ten species have been karyotyped and all showed 2 n = 26 (12 macro- and 14 microchromosomes) (Caputo et al. 1994). The karyotypes differ in the morphology of microchromosomes, however, this can be partly due to the interpretation of smaller chromosomes by different authors., Published as part of Castiglia, Riccardo, Annesi, Flavia, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., García, Andrés & Flores-Villela, Oscar, 2010, Cytotaxonomy and DNA taxonomy of lizards (Squamata, Sauria) from a tropical dry forest in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve on the coast of Jalisco, Mexico, pp. 1-29 in Zootaxa 2508 on page 18, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.196005, {"references":["Schmitz, A., Mausfeld, P. & Embert, D. (2004) Molecular studies on the genus Eumeces Wiegmann, 1834: phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic implications. Hamadryad, 28, 73 - 89.","Smith, H. M. (2005) Plestiodon: a replacement name for most members of the genus Eumeces in North America. Journal of Kansas Herpetology, 14, 15 - 16.","Deweese, J. E. & Wright, J. W. (1970) A preliminary karyological analysis of scincid lizards. Mammalian Chromosomes Newsletter, 11, 95 - 96.","Wu, M. (1983) Preliminary study on karyotype of Eumeces chinensis. Acta Herpetologica Sinica, 2, 27 - 32.","Capriglione, T. (1987) New data on karyotype of some Scincidae. Caryologia, 40, 109 - 114.","Guo, C. & Dong, Y. W. (1988) A comparative study on the karyotypes and Ag-stained NORs of two species of wild skinks from Huang Shan. Hereditas, 10, 17 - 19.","Kato, J., Hikida, T., Bogadek, A., Lau, M. W. & Ota, H. (1998) Karyotype of the Chinese four-lined skink, Eumeces quadrilineatus (Reptilia: Scincidae), from Hong Kong. Raffles Bulletin of Zool ogy, 46, 35 - 40.","Gorman, G. C. (1973) The chromosomes of the Reptilia, a cytotaxonomic interpretation. In: Chiarelli, A. B. & Capanna, E. (Eds.), Cytotaxonomy and Vertebrate Evolution. Academic Press, New York, pp. 349 - 424.","Kupriyanova, L. A. (1973) The karyotype characteristics of two species of the Scincidae family. Tsitologiya, 15, 1135 - 1142.","De Smet, W. H. O. (1981) Description of the orcein stained karyotypes of 27 lizard species (Lacertilia, Reptilia) belonging to the families Teiidae, Scincidae, Lacertidae, Cordylidae and Varanidae (Autarchoglossa), Acta Zoologica et Pathologica Antverpiensia, 76, 73 - 118.","Kupriyanova, L. A. (1986) On karyotype evolution in lizards. In: Rocek. Z. (Ed), Studies in herpetology. Charles University, Prague, pp. 85 - 88.","Eremchenko, V. K., Panfilov, A. M. & Tsarienko, E. I. (1992) Summary of the studies on cytogenetics and systematics of several Asiatic species of Scincidae and Lacertidae. Ilim Press, Bishkek, Russia, 188 pp.","Caputo, V., Odierna, G. & Aprea, G. & Capriglione, T. (1993) Eumeces algeriensis, a full species of the Eumeces schneiderii group (Scincidae): karyological and morphological evidence. Amphibia-Reptilia, 14, 187 - 193.","Caputo, V., Odierna, G. & Aprea, G. (1994) A chromosomal study of Eumeces and Scincus, primitive members of the Scincidae (Reptilia, Squamata). Bolletino di Zoologia, 61, 155 - 162.","Hassan, H. A. (1996) Chromosomal studies of four Egyptian lizards of the families Agamidae and Scincidae. Cytologia, 61, 443 - 455.","Ivanov, V. G. & Bogdanov, O. P. (1975) The karyotype of Eumeces taeniolatus Blyth (Sauria: Scincidae). Tsitologiya, 17, 861 - 863."]}

Aethomys is a common and widespread rodent genus in the African savannas and grasslands. However, its systematics and taxonomy are still unclear as no study has covered the entire range. In fact it might not be a monophyletic genus and perhaps should be split into two subgenera, Micaelamys and Aethomys. In this paper, we present findings based on the cytogenetics and the entire cytochrome b sequence of two species from Zambia (A. kaiseri) and Tanzania (A. chrysophilus), and we compare them with the sequences of a South African species (A. namaquensis) and other allied muroid genera. Comparison of the banded chromosomes revealed complete G-band homology between the autosomes of the two species. However, the X and Y chromosomes clearly differ in size and in C- and G-banding, being much larger in A. kaiseri. Comparison of the cytochrome b sequences places the separation between A. kaiseri and A. chrysophilus at 4.49 Mya, a period of intense speciation in other African muroids. The resulting phylogeny strongly supports the idea of a paraphyletic group, suggesting the need to elevate the previously described subgenera to the genus rank.