Panolopus Cope 1862
Creators: name: Schools, Molly
name: Hedges, S. Blair
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Squamata
Diploglossidae
Panolopus

description: Genus Panolopus Cope, 1862
Caribbean Smooth-scaled Forest Lizards
Figs. 17–18
Panolopus Cope, 1862:494. Type species: Panolopus costatus Cope, 1862:494, by original designation.
Diagnosis. Species of Panolopus have (1) claw sheath, absent, (2) contact between the nasal and rostral scales, absent, (3) scales in contact with the nasal scale, four, (4) postnasal scales, one, (5) position of the nostril in the nasal scale, central, (6) keels on dorsal body scales, absent, (7) digits per limb, five, (8) longest toe lamellae, 12–22, (9) dorsal scale rows, 83–100, (10) relative head width, 10.6–15.5, (11) relative rostral height, 37.6–51.9, (12) relative frontonasal length, 1.93–2.94, (13) relative interparietal distance, 0.0691 –0.911, (14) relative axilla-groin distance, 49.7–59.6.
From Advenus gen. nov., we distinguish Panolopus by the absence of a claw sheath (present in Advenus gen. nov.) and the relative axilla-groin distance (49.7–59.6 versus 60.0). From Caribicus gen. nov., we distinguish Panolopus by the absence of keels on the dorsal body scales (present in Caribicus gen. nov.), the relative frontonasal length (1.93–2.94 versus 2.98–3.32), and the relative axilla-groin distance (49.7–59.6 versus 67.1–69.1). From Celestus, we distinguish Panolopus by the relative axilla-groin distance (49.7–59.6 versus 60.9–66.4). From Comptus gen. nov., we distinguish Panolopus by the absence of keels on the dorsal scales (present in Comptus gen. nov.), relative rostral height (37.6–51.9 versus 53.2–65.5), and relative frontonasal length (1.93–2.94 versus 2.95–3.65). From Sauresia, we distinguish Panolopus by the absence of a claw sheath (present in Sauresia), digits per limb (five versus four), dorsal scale rows (83–100 versus 101–127), and the relative axilla-groin distance (49.7–59.6 versus 63.9–69.9). From Wetmorena, we distinguish Panolopus by the absence of a claw sheath (present in Wetmorena), the digits per limb (five versus four), and the relative axilla-groin distance (49.7–59.6 versus 59.9–71.4).
Content. Three species (Table 3): Panolopus costatus, P. curtissi, and P. marcanoi.
Distribution. Panolopus occurs on Hispaniola and some surrounding islets (Fig. 18).
Etymology. Cope (1862) did not give the etymology of the generic name (Panolopus) but the name presumably refers to the fusion of numerous head scales mentioned in his diagnosis (pan, all; lopus, scale). Some of those traits are not diagnostic of the group and may represent healed injuries or deformities in a specimen he examined.
Remarks. Panolopus is a monophyletic clade that has a support value of 100% in Bayesian and ML analyses (Fig. 2). Our phylogenies include all three species of Panolopus as well as five of the 11 subspecies of Panolopus costatus (P. costatus costatus, P. costatus leionotus, P. costatus neiba, P. costatus nesobous, P. costatus oreistes) and all four subspecies of P. curtissi. However, P. costatus and P. curtissi are not monophyletic and there are deep divergences (2–6 Mya) among populations of species and subspecies (Fig. 3). Our trees do not include Panolopus costatus aenetergum, P. costatus emys, P. costatus saonae, P. costatus chalcorhabdus, P. costatus psychonothes, and P. costatus melanchrous. These results, together with other molecular and morphological data, indicate that the genus Panolopus includes at least nine additional species (Schools & Hedges, unpubl.).
description: Published as part of Schools, Molly & Hedges, S. Blair, 2021, Phylogenetics, classification, and biogeography of the Neotropical forest lizards (Squamata, Diploglossidae), pp. 201-257 in Zootaxa 4974 (2) on page 230, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4974.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4775440