Herpetology Notes, volume 13: 715-716 (2020) (published online on 25 August 2020)

First record of brown forest skink, Scincella cherriei (Cope, 1893) (Squamata:Scincidae) in El Salvador

Antonio E. Valdenegro-Brito1,2, Néstor Herrera-Serrano3, and Uri O. García-Vázquez1,*

The Scincella Mittleman, 1950 genus is composed by 2015; Valdenegro-Brito et al., 2016; McCranie, 2018). 36 species, 26 restricted to eastern Asia and 10 species Here, we report the first record of S. cherrie from El are known in the New World in North America, and Salvador. The digital photographs of specimens were Mesoamerica (Myers and Donelly, 1991; Nguyen et al., submitted to the Colección digital de vertebrados de 2019). For El Salvador in Central America, Scincella la Facultad de Estudios Superiores Zaragoza, UNAM assata (Cope, 1864) represents the only species of (MZFZ-IMG). the genus know for the country (Köhler et al., 2006). While conducting fieldwork in El Salvador, on 10 Scincella cherriei (Cope, 1893) is characterised November 2019, we observed two male juvenile by possessing 30 to 36 rows of scales around the individuals (MZFZ-IMG254-56 and MZFZ-IMG257- midbody, 58-72 dorsal scales, thick and moderately 260; Fig. 1) of S. cherriei in a coffee plantation within long pentadactyl limbs, average snout-vent length of an oak pine forest in the locality of San José Sacare, 55 mm; the dorsal colouration is dark brown with a municipality of La Palma, Chalatenango department mottled pattern throughout the body, and a well-defined (14. 27079ºN, 89. 17995ºW; datum WGS84) 1215 lateral dark stripe only in the head and neck, which m a.s.l. The specimens were found active at twilight degrades to half a body; cream-yellowish belly; blue among the leaf litter. These specimens represent the tail with cross bands pattern (Stuart, 1940). Scincella first record of S. cherriei for El Salvador and extends the cherriei occurs at low to moderate and occasionally intermediate elevations, on the Atlantic slope from central Veracruz, northern Oaxaca and Chiapas, and isolated populations in Campeche and the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica to the western Panama and on the Pacific slope from southeastern Honduras to western Panama (Stuart, 1940; Myers and Donelly, 1991; Arias and Bolaños, 2014; Johnson et al., 2015; Mata -Silva et al.,

1 Laboratorio de Sistemática Molecular, Unidad de Investigación Experimental Zaragoza, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Zaragoza, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Batalla 5 de mayo s/n, Col. Ejército de Oriente, 09230, CDMX, México. 2 Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Centro Tlaxcala Biología de la Conducta. Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Carretera Tlaxcala-Puebla Km. 1.5, La Loma Xicohténcatl, 90070, Tlax. México. 3 Paso Pacífico, Residencial Altos de la Cima, Calle #2, Casa Figure 1. Specimens of S. cherriei from San José Sacare, #21, Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad, El Salvador. Chalatenango department, El Salvador A) MZFZ-IMG254, B) * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] MZFZ-IMG257. Photos by Antonio Valdenegro. 716 Antonio E. Valdenegro-Brito et al. distribution range 58 km airline to the SW of the nearest Köhler, G., Veselý, M., Greenbaum, E. (2006): The Amphibians town locality in Villa Verde, Lempira department in and Reptiles of El Salvador. Original edition. Malabar, Florida, western Honduras (FMNH 283734; McCranie, 2018). USA, Kreiger Publishing Company. Mata-Silva, V., Johnson, J.D., Wilson, L.D., García-Padilla, E. Scincella assata is also found in San José Sacare and (2015): The herpetofauna of Oaxaca, Mexico: composition, represents the locality with the highest altitude record in physiographic distribution, and conservation status. El Salvador (Köhler et al., 2006), and with this record Mesoamerican Herpetology 2: 6–62. of S. cherriei it is shown that in this area both species McMcranie, J.R. (2018): The lizards, Crocodiles, and Turtles of are in sympatry. Honduras. Systematics, Distribution and Conservation. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 15(1):1–129. Acknowledgements. We thank the American Museum of Natural Myers, C.W., Donnelly, M.A. (1991): The Lizard Genus History by the found support to Esau Valdenegro. As well the Sphenomorphus (Scincidae) in Panama, with Description of a Dirección General de Apoyo al Personal Académico, Universidad New Species. American Museum novitates 3027: 12. Nacional Autónoma de México (PAPIIT grant number IN-216619) Nguyen, S.N., Nguyen, V.D.H., Nguyen, L.T.H., Murphy, R.W. and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT A1- (2019): A new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 S-37838) for the logistic support. We thank Adam Glause for (Squamata: Scincidae) from Ba Den Mountain, Tay Ninh reviewing our manuscript for proper use of English. Province, southern Vietnam, Zootaxa 4648(2): 273–286. Stuart, L.C. (1940): Notes on the Lampropholis group of Middle American Lygosoma (Scincidae) with descriptions of two new References forms. Occacional Papers of the Museum of Zoology University Arias, E., Bolaños, F. (2014): A checklist of the amphibians and of Michigan 421: 1–16. reptiles of San Isidro de Dota, Reserva Forestal Los Santos, Valdenegro-Brito, A.E., García-Morales, D., Sánchez-García, Costa Rica, Check List 10(4): 870–877. J.C., García-Vázquez, U.O. (2016): Geographic Distribution: Johnson, J.D., Mata-Silva, V., García-Padilla, E., Wilson, L.D. Scincella cherriei (Brown Forest Skink). Herpetological Review (2015): The herpetofauna of Chiapas, México: composition, 47(3): 424–425. physiographic distribution, and conservation status. Mesoamerican Herpetology 2: 272–329.

Accepted by Javier Cortés Suárez