Norops, Wagler, 1830

Nicholson, Kirsten E., Crother, Brian I., Guyer, Craig & Savage, Jay M., 2012, 3477, Zootaxa 3477, pp. 1-108 : 41-44

Genus Norops

Genus Norops Wagler, 1830

Norops Wagler, 1830 ; Natürliches System der Amphibien: 149. Type species: Lacertaaurata Bonnaterre, 1789: 52 by monotypy. Selected as the senior synonym over Draconura Wagler, 1833 by Savage and Guyer (1991:303).

Draconura Wagler, 1830 ; Natürliches System der Amphibien: 149. Type species: Draconura nitens Wagler, 1830: 149 by monotypy.

Trachycoelia Fitzinger, 1843 ; Systema Reptilium: 17, 66. Type species: Anolis lineatus Daudin,1804 (4): 66 (= Lacerta strumosa Linné, 1758:208 ) by original designation. Proposed as a subgenus of Ptychonotus .

Tropidopilus Fitzinger, 1843 ; Systema Reptilium: 17, 66. Type species: Anolis fuscoauratus D’Orbigny in Duméril and Bibron, 1837 (4): 110 by original designation. Proposed as a subgenus of Dactyloa .

Xiphocercus Fitzinger, 1843 ; Systema Reptilium: 17, 67. Type species: Anolis valencienni C. Duméril and Bibron, 1837 (4): 131 by original designation. Proposed as a subgenus of Dactyloa .

Trachypilus Fitzinger, 1843 ; Systema Reptilium: 17, 67. Type species: Anolis sagr ei Cocteau in Duméril and Bibron, 1837 (4): 149 by original designation. Proposed as a subgenus of Dactyloa .

Pristicercus Fitzinger, 1843 ; Systema Reptilium: 17, 67. Type species: Dactyloa biporcata Wiegmann, 1834: 47 by original designation. Proposed as a subgenus of Dactyloa .

Gastrotropsis Fitzinger, 1843; Systema Reptilium: 17, 68. Type species: Dactyloa nebulosa Wiegmann, 1834: 47 by original designation. Proposed as a subgenus of Dactyloa .

Dracontura Fitzinger. 1843: 17, 69. Unjustified emendation of Draconura Wagler (1830) that must take same type species as Draconura . Type species: Draconura nitens Wagler, 1830: 149 .

Dracontopsis Fitzinger, 1843: 17 , 69. Type species: Draconura nitzschii Wiegmann, 1834: 16 (= Lacerta aurata, Bonnaterre, 1789: 52 ) by original designation. Proposed as a subgenus of Dracontura.

Placopsis Gosse, 1850 ; Ann. Mag. Nat Hist. ser. 2, 6: 346: type species: Placopsis ocellata Gosse, 1850: 346 (= Anolis valencienni Duméril and Bibron, 1837 (4): 13) by monotypy.

Coccoessus Cope, 1862; Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci, Philadelphia 14:178. Type species: Anolis (Coccoessus) pentaprion Cope, 1862: 178 by monotypy. Proposed as a subgenus of Anolis .

Tropidodactylus Boulenger, 1885 ; Catalogue of the lizards in the British Musuem (Natural History) 2: 97. Type species: Norops onca O’Shaughnessey, 1875 ; ser. 4, 15: 280 by monotypy.

Diagnosis. — Support for this genus is from 57 apomorphies including nine morphological and 48 molecular ones. There are four unequivocal morphological apomorphies: mean number of ventral scales in 5% of snout-to-vent length increased (20: q to r); anterolaterally directed transverse processes on autotomic caudal vertebrae (beta condition) (49: 0 to 1); nasal overlaps lateral edge of premaxilla (77: a to z); and posterior suture of dentary usually pronged (83: a to n). There are 28 unequivocal molecular apomorphies (see Appendix II).

Definition. —Members of the genus Norops can be defined as dactyloid lizards having: 1) the beta condition of autotomous caudal vertebrae ( Etheridge, 1969, Fig. 3A) in which all caudal vertebrae have elongate transverse processes with those on the autotomic vertebrae bifurcate in the vertical plane and directed anterolaterally with their base located posterior to the septum; 2) interclavicle T-shaped ( Guyer and Savage, 1986, Fig. 2B); 3) postfrontal bone present or absent; 4) pineal foramen in parietal; 5) supratemporal processes of parietal may or may not cover upper surface of supraoccipital; 6) pterygoid teeth absent; 7) angular process of articular large; 8) posterior suture of dentary pronged or blunt; 9) usually no splenial; 10) no lower jaw sculpturing in males; 11) modal number of lumbar vertebrae 3 or 4; 12) modal number of caudal vertebrae anterior to first autotomic vertebra usually 6 or 7, sometimes 8; 13) supraoccipital cresting continuous across supraoccipital or with distinct lateral processes; 14) karyotypes IV or V, no sexual heteromorphism in many species, xy heteromorphism in many species, and xxy heteromorphism in one species. The extensive variation in this genus is summarized by species group below (Appendix 7).

Content. —This genus is comprised of three species groups, 175 species, one which is a fossil, and a total of 190 species and subspecies (see Appendix III).

Distribution. — Cuba, Jamaica, Bahamas, Grand and Little Cayman, Cayman Brac, Mexico, Central America, and many adjacent islands, including Cozumel, the Bay Islands, the Corn Islands, Swan Island, San Andres and Providencia (Caribbean) and Isla del Cocos (Pacific); south to western Ecuador, northern South America ( Colombia and Venezuela), including Isla Gorgona (Pacific), the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Margarita (Caribbean), Trinidad and Tobago; then south through the Guyanas to southeastern and southern Brazil, and Paraguay, and throughout the Orinoco and Amazon Basins ( Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Bolivia) ( Fig. 25).

Introductions. — Norops garmani to Grand Cayman Island, Florida, N. grahami to Bermuda; N. maynardi to Cayman Brac; N. sagrei to Jamaica, Caribbean coast from Mexico to Belize, including Bay Islands and Cozumel, also Grenada and St. Vincent and Little and Grand Cayman Islands and Cayman Brac, the southern United States from Florida to Texas; Hawaii.

Etymology. —The generic name is from the Greek norops = brilliant or gleaming with reference to the bright color of the type species and is a translation of the Latin specific name of that species. In this case, Norops is an adjective used as a noun and is in the masculine gender as indicated by the original describer (Wagler, 1830). Norops is masculine in gender.

Remarks. — The species name, Anolis auratus , is usually attributed to Daudin (1802). However, the name Lacerta aurata was established on the same basis (a description in Lacépède, 1788) by Bonnaterre (1789).

Linné’s (1758) Lacerta strumosa , the type species of Trachycoelia Fitzinger (1843) , is based on Seba (1735, pl. 20, Fig. 4). The specimen (MNHNP 795) that was the model for Seba’s portrait is also the type specimen of Anolis lineatus Daudin, 1802 . It was part of the Seba cabinet at the Paris Museum and at one time was on exhibit in the Museum’s gallery ( Duméril and Bibron, 1837). The name strumosa has not been used as a valid name since 1837 and we regard it as a nomen oblitum under the Code (Art. 23.9.1.1-2.). The junior synonym, as Anolis lineatus , is in prevailing usage and meets the requirements to be treated as a nomen protectum under Art. 23.9.2 of the Code, based on a review of the citations in the Zoological Record (1918–2008).

Variation in karyotypes in this nominal genus is extensive. It is especially substantial in the auratus group. A limited number of species in the valencienni and auratus species groups have xy sexual heteromorphism and one species in the latter group has xxy sexual heteromorphism.

The genus described here has long been recognized as a monophyletic group and is supported as such in nearly all published accounts that include species from this group. It is also recognized as a clade in Alfoldi et al.’s (2011) analysis of the genome of Anolis carolinensis that includes a molecular phylogeny for 96 anole taxa based upon 46 loci and 20,000 bp of sequence data.