Dwarf tea
Dwarf tea | ||||||||||||
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Gymnophthalmidae | ||||||||||||
Merrem , 1820 |
The dwarf - or Brillentejus (Gymnophthalmidae) are exclusively in the New World occurring from southern Mexico to Argentina family of Squamata (Squamata).
features
Compared to other lizards, most dwarf teas have elongated, slender bodies. Some also resemble the real lizards (Lacertidae). With a length of ten centimeters or more, they are the smallest lizards in South and Central America , apart from a few types of gecko . In several genera, there was a reduction in limbs independently of one another, often combined with a strong lengthening of the body. In the Wühltejus ( Bachia ) the legs are reduced to functionless, fin-like appendages with three toes and are only used when moving slowly. The genus can jump with the help of the tail. In Calyptommatus the legs are completely absent. Most species have a transparent lower eyelid (Gymnophthalmidae = naked eyes) so that they can see with their eyes closed.
Habitat and way of life
Dwarf teas live mainly in the humid tropics, e.g. B. in rainforests , but also in deserts and high in the Andes . Proctoporus bolivianus still lives at altitudes of 4000 meters. In Ecuador , six Pholidobolus species occur in valleys and on the slopes of mountains up to heights of 3000 meters. Up to ten species of dwarf tea can be found in the same habitat.
Most of the dwarf teas stay on the ground, some like Cercosaura argulus also climb trees or bushes. Bachia digs in the soils of tropical rainforests, Calyptommatus in sandy habitats. Most species of Neusticurus live semi-aquatic . Neusticurus ecpleopus is bound to sandbanks of jungle rivers. Often sister species can be identified that have been separated by geographical barriers. Calyptommatus sinebrachiatus occurs exclusively in dunes on the north bank of the Rio São Francisco , while the south bank is inhabited by C. leiolepis and C. nicteris - these two species in turn live isolated from each other in sand dunes.
All Zwergtejus eat insects and other small invertebrates and are without exception oviparous (laying eggs), two forms of Gymnophthalmus underwoodi also reproduce parthenogenetically . Often several females lay eggs in the same nest. Sexual dimorphism occurs, but not in burrowing, underground species. Usually the head of the male is larger and the sides of the body are more patterned. Vanzosaura rubricauda , which lives in open habitats, has males smaller but thicker heads.
Systematics
The Zwergtejus are the sister group of the rail lizards (Teiidae) and are also assigned to them by some authors as the subfamily Gymnophthalminae. In the traditional systematics of the scale reptiles, both families were assigned to the skinky (Scincomorpha). According to the most recent molecular biological investigations, however, they are not closely related to the skinky species, but rather the taxon (Teiformata or Gymnophthalmoidea) formed by dwarf teas , rail lizards and Alopoglossidae is the sister group of Lacertibaenia, a taxon to which the real lizards (Lacertidae) and the double snakes belong (Amphisbaenia) belong. The clade formed by all five groups is called the laterata or lacertoidea.
There are about 230 species in over 40 genera and four subfamilies.
- Family Gymnophthalmidae
- Subfamily Cercosaurinae Gray, 1838
- Tribus Bachiini Colli et al., 2015
- Bachia Gray, 1845
- Tribe Cercosaurini Gray, 1838
- Anadia Gray, 1845
- Cercosaura Wagler, 1830
- Echinosaura Boulenger, 1890
- Euspondylus Tschudi, 1845
- Macropholidus Noble, 1921
- Neusticurus Duméril & Bibron, 1839
- Oreosaurus
- Pantodactylus Duméril & Bibron, 1839
- Petracola Doan & Castoe, 2005
- Pholidobolus Peter, 1862
- Placosoma Tschudi, 1847
- Potamites Doan & Castoe, 2005
- Proctoporus Tschudi, 1845
- Riama Gray, 1858
- Teuchocercus Fritts & Smith, 1969
- Tribus Ecpleopodini Fitzinger, 1843
- Adercosaurus Myers & Donnelly, 2001
- Amapasaurus Cunha, 1970
- Anotosaura Amaral, 1933
- Arthrosaura Boulenger, 1885
- Colobosauroides da Cunha, Lima-Verde & Lima, 1991
- Dryadosaura Rodrigues, Freire, Pellegrino & Sites, 2005
- Ecpleopus Duméril & Bibron, 1839
- Kaieteurosaurus Kok, 2005
- Leposoma Spix, 1825
- Loxopholis Cope, 1869
- Marinussaurus Peloso, Pellegrino, Rodrigues & Avila-Pires, 2011
- Pantepuisaurus Kok, 2009
- Tribus Bachiini Colli et al., 2015
- Subfamily Gymnophthalminae Fitzinger, 1826
- Tribus Gymnophthalmini Fitzinger, 1826
- Calyptommatus Rodrigues, 1991
- Gymnophthalmus Merrem, 1820
- Micrablepharus Boettger 1885
- Nothobachia Rodrigues, 1984
- Procellosaurinus Rodrigues, 1991
- Psilophthalmus Rodrigues, 1991
- Scriptosaura Trefaut Rodrigues & dos Santos, 2008
- Tretioscincus Cope, 1862
- Vanzosaura Rodrigues, 1991
- Tribe Heterodactylini Goicoechea, Frost, De la Riva, Pellegrino, Sites, Rodrigues & Padial, 2016
- Caparaonia Rodrigues, Cassimiro, Pavan, Curcio, Verdade & Machado Pellegrino, 2009
- Colobodactylus Amaral, 1933
- Heterodactylus Spix, 1825
- Tribus Iphisini Gray, 1851
- Acratosaura Rodrigues, Pellegrino, Dixo, Verdade, Pavan, Argolo & Sites, 2007
- Alexandresaurus Rodrigues, Pellegrino, Dixo, Verdade, Pavan, Argolo & Sites, 2007
- Colobosaura Boulenger, 1887
- Iphisa Gray, 1851
- Rondonops Colli, Hoogmoed, Cannatella, Cassimiro, Gomes, Ghellere, Sales-Nunes, Pellegrino, Salerno, Marques De Souza & Rodrigues, 2015
- Stenolepis Boulenger, 1888
- Tribus Gymnophthalmini Fitzinger, 1826
- Subfamily Rhachisaurinae Pellegrino, Rodrigues, Yonenaga-Yassuda & Sites, 2001
- Rhachisaurus Pellegrino, Rodrigues, Yonenaga-Yassuda & Sites, 2001
- Subfamily Riolaminae Kok, 2015
- Riolama Uzzell, 1973
- Subfamily Cercosaurinae Gray, 1838
The Alopoglossinae , originally another subfamily of the Dwarf Tejus, became an independent family in April 2016.
literature
- Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt: Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity (Organisms and Environments) . University of California Press (2003), ISBN 0-520-23401-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nicolas Vidal, S. Blair Hedges: The phylogeny of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) inferred from nine nuclear protein-coding genes . CR Biologies 328 (2005): 1000-1008. PDF full text
- ↑ a b c Goicoechea, N., Frost, DR, De la Riva, I., Pellegrino, KCM, Sites, J., Rodrigues, MT & Padial, JM: Molecular systematics of teioid lizards (Teioidea / Gymnophthalmoidea: Squamata) based on the analysis of 48 loci under tree alignment and similarity alignment. Cladistics, March 2016, doi: 10.1111 / cla.12150