Plica plica (Linnaeus, 1758)

Llanqui, Irbin B., Y. Salas, Cinthya & Oblitas, Melissa P., 2019, A preliminary checklist of amphibians and reptiles from the vicinity of La Nube Biological Station, Bahuaja-Sonene National Park, Peru, Check List 15 (5), pp. 773-796 : 787

Plica plica (Linnaeus, 1758)

Material examined. Field observations; (13°24′31″S, 069°35′50″W), 22.IX.2013.

Identification. A moderate sized lizard, SVL 90–165 mm in males and 88–145 mm in females. It can be identified by having a vertebral crest, and distinctive tufts of spiny scales on the sides of the neck, and large head. Dorsal scales rhomboid, imbricate, keeled and mucronate, 121–162 scales around midbody. Dorsum pale green with black marks usually forming spotted, slightly V-shaped transverse bands. Venter pale gray to cream, throat black in males. Black marks on the tail. Similar species in adjacent localities are: P. umbra , which has fewer than 75 scales around mid-body, a standard head size, dorsum olive-brown with irregular black spots; Stenocercus fimbriatus and S. roseiventris , which have a distinctive brown dorsum; Enyalioides laticeps , which has granular dorsal scales ( Etheridge 1970, Ávila-Pires 1995, Duellman 2005, Cole et al. 2013).

Distribution. Plica plica is widely distributed in Amazonia in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela ( Ávila-Pires 1995, Ribeiro-Júnior 2015), but see Murphy and Jowers (2013) and Uetz and Hošek (2019).

Remarks. Several individuals were observed high in trees around LNBS, but we were unable to collect them.