Cnemidophorus lemniscatus

Pertinent taxonomic references. Linnaeus (1758), Duméril & Bibron (1839), Cope (1876), Boulenger (1885), Gorman (1970), Lowe et al. (1970), Vanzolini (1970), Peccinini (1971), Hoogmoed (1973), Peccinini- Seale & Frota-Pessoa (1974), Hoogmoed & Lescure (1975), Cole (1979), Cunha (1981), Walker (1986), McCrystal & Dixon (1987), Frost & Wright (1988), Dessauer & Cole (1989), Peccinini-Seale (1989), Sites et al. (1990), Vyas et al. (1990), Cole & Dessauer (1993), Ávila-Pires (1995), Markezich et al. (1997), Reeder et al. (2002), Colli et al. (2003 b), Ugueto et al. (2009), Ugueto & Harvey (2010), Myers et al. (2011), Harvey et al. (2012), Giugliano et al. (2013), McCranie & Hedges (2013). Taxonomic remarks. McCranie & Hedges (2013) studied Cnemidophorus lemniscatus in Central America, northern Colombia and northern Venezuela, described one new species and elevated three others. Since we examined the specimens before this paper appeared, in order to restrict our data to C. leminscatus s. s. we considered only specimens from Venezuela east of the Orinoco river.

Distribution and habitat. Cnemidophorus lemniscatus is endemic to eastern Amazonia, occurring in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil, in open formations mostly on north of the Amazon River, but also along the lower Tapajós River (Fig. 6). In Brazil it is known from the states of Amapá, Pará, Amazonas, and Roraima. Cnemidophorus lemniscatus is sexually dimorphic, terrestrial, and diurnal, inhabits open vegetation environments, mainly on sandy soil, and perianthropic situations (e. g., agricultural fields, roads, around and inside cities), where it is found on the open ground, among grasses, near bushes, and occasionally low on the vegetation (Cunha 1981; Magnusson et al. 1986; Ávila-Pires 1995; Vitt & Carvalho 1995; Vitt et al. 1997 b, 1999; Mesquita & Colli 2003; Montgomery et al. 2011).