Subfamily Diploglossinae Cope, 1865

Neotropical Forest Lizards

Fig. 21

Diploglossidae Cope, 1865:228. Type genus. Diploglossus Wiegmann, 1834.

Diagnosis. Members of this subfamily have (1) claw sheath, present or absent, (2) contact between the nasal and rostral scales, present or absent, (3) scales in contact with the nasal scale, 5–6, (4) postnasal scales, 1–2, (5) position of the nostril in the nasal scale, posterior, (6) keels on dorsal body scales, present or absent, (7) digits per limb, 0 or 5, (8) longest toe lamellae, 8–18 except for limbless species, (9) dorsal scale rows, 88–171, (10) relative head width, 9.20–19.0, (11) relative rostral height, 49.6–62.1, (12) relative frontonasal length, 2.11–4.44, (13) relative interparietal distance, 0–0.658, (14) relative axilla-groin distance, 52.8–76.6.

The subfamily Diploglossinae is distinguished from the other two subfamilies by scales in contact with the nasal scale (5–6 instead of four in Celestinae subfam. nov.), the position of the nostril in the nasal scale (posterior instead of central in Celestinae subfam. nov.), and the number of dorsal scales (88–171 instead of 65–85 in Siderolamprinae subfam. nov.).

Content. Sixteen currently recognized species in two genera (Table 3): Diploglossus Wiegmann, 1834 and Ophiodes Wagler, 1828.

Distribution. Diploglossinae occurs on Caribbean islands (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Montserrat) and in South America (including Malpelo Island).

Etymology. As for the type genus.

Remarks. The subfamily Diploglossinae is a monophyletic clade that has a support value of 100% in Bayesian and ML analyses (Fig. 2). We place Ophiodes in this subfamily based on molecular and morphological evidence.