IS BARISIA-RUDICOLLIS (SAURIA, ANGUIDAE) ARBOREAL - A MORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

The Mexican anguid Barisia rudicollis was first described by Wiegmann in 1828. Since that time its ecology and Life history have remained al most a complete mystery. Until recently the species was known from onl y five specimens. Knowledge of its habitat in the wild is from collect ing reports on only two specimens, both of which were collected on the ground. Despite lack of evidence, the hypothesis has persisted in the literature that B. rudicollis is an arboreal lizard. Several authors have suggested that B. rudicollis has longer limbs, digits and claws t han other members of the genus and that this difference in morphology indicates an arboreal habit. Examination of the museum collections at the Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Morelos in Mexico revealed thre e additional specimens of B. rudicollis. We compared the limb morpholo gy of these three specimens to the morphology of anguid species of kno wn ecology to determine whether or not B. rudicollis is morphologicall y adapted for arboreality. Our analysis shows that the limb morphology of B. rudicollis is more similar to the morphology of its terrestrial congeners than to the morphology of arboreal anguids.