Murphy John C, Jowers Michael J, Lehtinen Richard M, Charles Stevland P, Colli Guarino R, Peres Ayrton K, Hendry Catriona R, Pyron R Alexander
Science & Education, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois, 60605, United States of America.
National Institute of Ecology, 1210 Geumgang-ro, Maseo-myeon, Seocheon-gun, 33657, Republic of Korea.
PLoS One. 2016 Aug 3;11(8):e0158542. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0158542. eCollection 2016.
Tegus of the genera Tupinambis and Salvator are the largest Neotropical lizards and the most exploited clade of Neotropical reptiles. For three decades more than 34 million tegu skins were in trade, about 1.02 million per year. The genus Tupinambis is distributed in South America east of the Andes, and currently contains four recognized species, three of which are found only in Brazil. However, the type species of the genus, T. teguixin, is known from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela (including the Isla de Margarita). Here we present molecular and morphological evidence that this species is genetically divergent across its range and identify four distinct clades some of which are sympatric. The occurrence of cryptic sympatric species undoubtedly exacerbated the nomenclatural problems of the past. We discuss the species supported by molecular and morphological evidence and increase the number of species in the genus Tupinambis to seven. The four members of the T. teguixin group continue to be confused with Salvator merianae, despite having a distinctly different morphology and reproductive mode. All members of the genus Tupinambis are CITES Appendix II. Yet, they continue to be heavily exploited, under studied, and confused in the minds of the public, conservationists, and scientists.
南美蜥属（Tupinambis）和泽巨蜥属（Salvator）的泰加蜥是新热带界最大的蜥蜴，也是新热带界爬行动物中受开发利用最多的类群。三十年来，超过3400万张泰加蜥皮进入贸易市场，每年约102万张。南美蜥属分布于安第斯山脉以东的南美洲，目前有四个公认的物种，其中三个仅在巴西发现。然而，该属的模式种——红泰加蜥（T. teguixin）在玻利维亚、巴西、哥伦比亚、厄瓜多尔、法属圭亚那、圭亚那、秘鲁、苏里南、特立尼达和多巴哥以及委内瑞拉（包括玛格丽塔岛）均有分布。在此，我们提供分子和形态学证据，表明该物种在其分布范围内存在遗传分化，并识别出四个不同的进化枝，其中一些是同域分布的。隐秘同域物种的存在无疑加剧了过去的命名问题。我们讨论了分子和形态学证据支持的物种，并将南美蜥属的物种数量增加到七个。尽管红泰加蜥组的四个成员具有明显不同的形态和繁殖方式，但它们仍继续与绿南美蜥（Salvator merianae）混淆。南美蜥属的所有成员均被列入《濒危野生动植物种国际贸易公约》附录二。然而，它们仍在被大量开发利用，研究不足，并且在公众、保护主义者和科学家的认知中存在混淆。
