Abronia moreletii

Abronia moreletii, commonly known as Morelet's alligator lizard and escorpión de Morelet in Spanish, is a species of lizard in the subfamily Gerrhonotinae of the family Anguidae. The species is native to Central America. There are four recognized subspecies.

Etymology

The specific name, moreletii, is in honor of French naturalist Pierre Marie Arthur Morelet.

Geographic range

Abronia moreletii is native to southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

Habitat

The natural habitat of Abronia moreletii consists of Central American pine-oak forests and cloud forests between above sea level.

Behavior

Abronia moreletii is terrestrial and semi-arboreal.

Reproduction

The mode of reproduction of Abronia moreletii has been described as being viviparous and as being ovoviviparous.

Subspecies

The following four subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.

• Abronia moreletii moreletii
• Abronia moreletii rafaeli
• Abronia moreletii salvadorensis
• Abronia moreletii temporalis

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Abronia.

The subspecific name, rafaeli, is in honor of Mexican herpetologist .

References

Further reading

• Bocourt, M.F. ("1871", 1872). "Description de quelques Gerrhonotes nouveaux provenant du Mexique et de l'Amérique centrale ". Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris 7 (4): 101–108. ("Gerrhonotus moreleti [sic], n. sp.", new species, p. 102; "Gerrh. moreletii [sic]", pp. 103–104). (in French).
• xiii + 497 pp. + Plates I–XXIV. (Gerrhonotus moreletii, pp. 278–279).
• ("Gerrhonotus moreleti [sic] rafaeli ", new subspecies, pp. 8–10; "Gerrhonotus moreleti [sic] temporalis ", new subspecies, pp. 10–14).
• (Gerrhonotus salvadorensis, new species, pp. 196–198, Figure 1, two drawings of head).