Neusticurus rudis Boulenger 1900

Barrio-Amorós, César L. & Brewer-Carías, Charles, 2010, Venezuelan Guayana, with the description of five new species, Zootaxa 1942, pp. 1-68 : 52

Neusticurus rudis Boulenger 1900

Lagartijo acuatico rudo

EBRG 4165 (adult male, field number L-1319) and 4168 (subadult male, field number L-1323).

The presence of a third species of Neusticurus in Sarisariñama is not surprising, as some localities in the Guiana Shield harbor two or three sympatric taxa. At Sierra de Lema, in a locality like Paso el Danto, La Escalera region, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela, N. bicarinatus , N. racenisi and N. rudis occur sympatrically ( Fig. 16 ). McDiarmid and Paolillo (1988) reported N. medemi and Neusticurus sp. from Neblina.

The most widespread and common species, however, are N. racenisi and N. rudis , which are commonly seen sympatrically in many other sites, like Auyan-tepui (Avila-Pires 1995; Uzzell 1966) and Guaiquinima ( Donnelly and Myers 1991). Neusticurus rudis is most likely a complex of two or more species ( Donnelly and Myers 1991).

Material examined. Neusticurus rudis .— VENEZUELA: Estado Bolivar, Paso el Danto, Sierra de Lema, CVULA 6510–11; Urutany tepui, MBUCV 669. Auyan-tepui, MBUCV 3066; Guaiquinima, MBUCV 7046 (formerly AMNH 136198), MBUCV (formerly AMNH 136204), MBUCV 7048 (formerly AMNH 136199), MBUCV 7049 (formerly AMNH 136208), and MBUCV 7050 (formerly AMNH 136207); Cerro Santa Rosa, Serranía del Supamo, FA 266–67 (slides in the collection of Fundación AndígenA, Mérida).

Figures

FIGURE 16. Distribution of Neusticurus bicarinatus, N. racenisi (black squares), N. rudis (black circles), and N. tatei (white squares) in Venezuela. The white circle identifies the single locality where N. bicarinatus, N. racenisi, and N. rudis are sympatric (La Escalera, Sierra de Lema, Bolívar State).