Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum ^^^5^^ 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION . WASHINGTON, D.C. 



THE LIZARDS OF ECUADOR, 

 A CHECK LIST AND KEY 



By James A. Peters 

 Curator, Division of Reptiles 



This paper constitutes the second of a series devoted to the establishment 

 of a framework upon which additional studies on the ecology and zoogeog- 

 raphy of the Ecuadorian herpetofauna can be based. The first paper dealt 

 with the snakes (J. Peters, 1960), and later studies will be concerned with 

 the amphibians. The principle established in the earlier list has been 

 abrogated, at least in part, since I have been forced to revise the genus 

 Ameiva strictly on the basis of the Ecuadorian political unit. But I repeat 

 my earlier opinion that such analyses are dangerous and can easily result 

 in perpetuation of difficulties. 



Methods 



The method of organization in this check list is the same as that of the 

 list of Ecuadorian snakes (J. Peters, 1960). The genera are presented 

 alphabetically, and the species are alphabetical within their genus. It is, 

 I think, true that the average user of the list will be interested in ease and 

 speed of use, not in my contribution to the intricacies of the higher categories 



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