科研之友
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摘要
Lizards of the gonochoristic Aspidoscelis inornata (Little Striped Whiptail) complex are ubiquitous components of vertebrate faunas in diverse habitats in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. One of these, Aspidoscelis arizonae (=A. inornata arizonae, Arizona Striped Whiptail), is extant at only a few grassland areas in southeastern Arizona, but nonetheless played an important evolutionary role in the hybrid origins of seven obligatory parthenogenetic species. Although recognized as a distinct species by many, A. arizonae lacks a valid species description and only anecdotal data argue for its recognition. We were unable to separate it from geographically proximate A. inornata in southwestern New Mexico, using diagnostic morphological features (i.e., number of stripes, dark field coloration, sky blue ventral suffusion) previously used to delineate aspidoscelids. Furthermore, we evaluated additional diagnostic characters (i.e., body size plus ten meristic characters) in samples of A. arizonae and A. i. llanuras from three adjacent counties, and found no significant size or meristic differences (P%26gt; 0.05). A canonical variate analysis of A. arizonae (n= 30), A. pai (40), A. inornata spp. (18), and A. i. llanuras (32) across seven meristic characters revealed A. arizonae as indistinguishable from A. i llanuras (i.e., 30% misclassifications). Apart from formal nomenclature, there are only two morphological groups among the foregoing samples, A. pal and a pooling of the other three. Data from all analyses in this study suggest that either A. arizonae is a cryptic species or a peripheral isolate unworthy of species status.
- 出版日期2013-9-27
