Crocodile sneaks
| Crocodile sneaks | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Southern crocodile snake ( Elgaria multicarinata ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gerrhonotinae | ||||||||||||
| McDowell & Bogert , 1954 |
The crocodile or alligator crawls (Gerrhonotinae) are a subfamily of the crawls (Anguidae) living in central and southern North America , Central America and Colombia .
features
Crocodile sneaks have - in contrast to the legless sneaks of the subfamily Anguinae and the mostly tiny legs of the family Diploglossidae - well-defined, but thin legs that have five toes. The body is elongated and covered by large, square, plate-like scales that overlap like shingles and are only missing in the side fold that makes breathing easier. The tail is as long as the trunk. In the tree-dwelling genus Abronia , it serves as a grasping organ. Most species are brown or gray in color, often with black or white horizontal stripes. The largest species, the Texas crocodile creep ( Gerrhonotus liocephalus ), reaches a head-trunk length of 20 centimeters.
Way of life
Crocodile sneaks live mainly in dry, open areas, the species of the Central American genus Abronia live on trees. They are lazy animals that spend most of their time in hiding. Crocodile sneaks reproduce oviparously and lay up to 20 eggs per clutch. The tree crawls ( Abronia ) and the species with the northernmost range, the northern crocodile crawl ( Elgaria coerulea ), are viviparous (live- bearing ).
Genera and species
-
Tree sneaks ( Abronia )
- Abronia anetoi Campbell & Frost, 1993
- Abronia aurita (Cope, 1869)
- Abronia bogerti Tihen, 1954
- Abronia campbelli Brodie & Savage 1993
- Abronia chiszari Smith & Smith 1981
- Abronia deppii (Wiegmann, 1828)
- Abronia fimbriata (Cope, 1884)
- Abronia frosti Campbell, Sasa, Avevedo & Mendelson, 1998
- Abronia fuscolabialis (Tihen, 1944)
- Abronia gaiophantasma Campbell & Frost, 1993
- Abronia graminea (Cope, 1864)
- Abronia leurolepis Campbell & Frost, 1993
- Abronia lythrochila Smith & Alvarez Del Toro 1963
- Abronia martindelcampoi Flores-Villela & Sánchez-H, 2003
- Abronia matudai (Hartweg & Tihen, 1946)
- Abronia meledona Campbell & Brodie, 1999
- Abronia Mitchelli Campbell, 1982
- Abronia mixteca Bogert & Porter, 1967
- Abronia montecristoi Hidalgo, 1983
- Abronia oaxacae (Günther, 1885)
- Abronia ochoterenai (Martin Del Campo, 1939)
- Abronia ornelasi Campbell, 1984
- Abronia ramirezi Campbell, 1994
- Abronia reidi Werler & Shannon, 1961
- Abronia salvadorensis Hidalgo, 1983
- Abronia smithi Campbell & Frost, 1993
- Abronia taeniata (Wiegmann, 1828)
- Abronia vasconcelosii (Bocourt, 1871)
-
Barisia
- Barisia herrerae Zaldívar-Riverón & Nieto-Montes De Oca, 2002
- Barisia imbricata (Wiegmann, 1828)
- Barisia levicollis Stejneger, 1890
- Barisia rudicollis (Wiegmann, 1828)
-
Coloptychon
- Coloptychon rhombifer (Peters, 1876)
-
Elgaria
- Elgaria cedrosensis (Fitch, 1934)
- Northern crocodile creep ( Elgaria coerulea (Wiegmann, 1828))
- King alligator crawl ( Elgaria kingii Gray, 1838)
- Southern crocodile sneak ( Elgaria multicarinata (Blainville, 1835))
- Elgaria panamintina (Stebbins, 1958)
- Elgaria paucicarinata (Fitch, 1934)
- Elgaria velazquezi Grismer & Hollingsworth, 2001
-
Gerrhonotus
- Gerrhonotus farri Bryson & Graham, 2010
- Gerrhonotus infernalis Baird, 1859
- Texas crocodile crawl ( Gerrhonotus liocephalus Wiegmann, 1828)
- Gerrhonotus lugoi McCoy, 1970
- Gerrhonotus mccoyi García-Vázquez et al., 2018
- Gerrhonotus ophiurus Cope, 1867
- Gerrhonotus parvus Knight & Scudday 1985
-
Mesaspis
- Mesaspis antauges (Cope, 1866)
- Mesaspis gadovii (Boulenger, 1913)
- Mesaspis juarezi (Karges & Wright, 1987)
- Mesaspis monticola (Cope, 1878)
- Mesaspis moreletii (Bocourt, 1871)
- Mesaspis viridiflava (Bocourt, 1873)
literature
- Chris Mattison: Lizards of the World. Facts On File, New York NY et al. 1989, ISBN 0-8160-1900-2 .
- Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt: Lizards. Windows to the Evolution of Diversity (= Organisms and Environments. Vol. 5). University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 2003, ISBN 0-520-23401-4 .
- Manfred Rogner : Lizards. Volume 2: Monitor lizards, skinks and other lizards as well as bridge lizards and crocodiles. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-8001-7253-4 .