Aspidoscelis deppii (Wiegmann, 1834)

Castiglia, Riccardo, Flores-Villela, Oscar Alberto, Bezerra, Alexandra M. R., Gornung, Ekaterina, Annesi, Flavia, Munoz-Alonso, Luis Antonio & Solano, Emanuela, 2020, Detection of cryptic diversity in lizards (Squamata) from two Biosphere Reserves in Mesoamerica, Comparative Cytogenetics 14 (4), pp. 613-638 : 613

Aspidoscelis deppii (Wiegmann, 1834)

Distribution.

The species has a wide distribution from Morelos and Michoacan (Mexico) south to Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Samples.

RCMX76 (female*) from La Sepultura, Chiapas, Mexico.

DNA taxonomy.

The MT-CYB sequence (294-bp) is 4% divergent from GenBank sequences of Aspidoscelis deppii (KF555517-21) from Mexico (Playa Miramar, Tabasco). Despite the wide distribution, there are no studies on the intraspecific genetic variability of this species. It is a pity because this slight divergence in the MT-CYB could match with a different karyotype (see below).

Chromosomes.

In the genus Aspidoscelis chromosomal number ranges from 2n = 44 to 2n = 56, with some species showing triploid numbers, such as Aspidoscelis tesselatus (Say, 1823), with 69 chromosomes ( Walker et al. 1997). The 2n = 44 is the most common diploid number in this genus ( Carvalho et al. 2015). Therefore, a low diploid number could represent an ancestral condition. All-acrocentric karyotypes with 2n = 52 (28M + 24m) ( Lowe et al. 1970) and 2n = 50 (26M + 24m) ( Manríquez-Morán et al. 2000) were reported in Aspidoscelis deppii from an unknown location and from Yucatan, respectively. Therefore, the two karyotypes differ in the number of macrochromosomes. Concurrently with Lowe et al. (1970), we found a 2n = 52 (28M + 24m) (Fig. 5D ) all-acrocentric chromosome complement in our sample from Chiapas. This result is also consistent with phylogenetic relationships, since a diploid complement 2n = 52 (28M + 24m) was found in other two species so far analyzed, A. guttatus Wiegmann, 1834 and A. lineattissimus (Cope, 1878), which are closely related to A. deppii ( Lowe et al. 1970; Carvalho et al. 2015).

Figures

Figure 5. Karyotypes of A Phyllodactylus sp. 3 (2 n = 38, RCMX 69 male) B Holcosus festivus (2 n = 50, RCMX 224 female) C Holcosus undulatus parvus (2 n = 50, RCMX 77 female) D Aspidoscelis deppii (2 n = 52, RCMX 76 female).