B R E V JUQlK a LIBRARY iiseiim of Comparative Zoology us ISSN 0006-9( — — HARVARD Cambridge, Mass. 29 March l^^i^HVERSTT^'^^^^^ ^^"^ A NEW SPECIES OF PRIMITIVE ANOLIS (SAURIA IGUANIDAE) FROM THE SIERRA DE BAORUCO, HISPANIOLA Albert Schwartz^ Abstract. A new species of primitive anole is described from the Sierra de Baoruco in the Republica Dominicana. The species is compared with its relatives occultus (Puerto Rico) and darlingtoni and insolitus (His-paniola) . Data on the ecology of the new species, in relation to A. insolitus and A. occultus, are presented. On the Antillean islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola occurs a small group of anoles which has been known from only three species, two of which were only very recently discovered and named. The earliest discovery of a member of this trio of lizards was that of Anolis darlingtoni Cochran, of which the holotype and still only known specimen was taken by P. J. Darlington in 1934 at Roche Croix on the northern slopes of the Haitian Mas-sif de la Hotte on the Tiburon Peninsula at an elevation of about 5000 feet (1525 meters). Cochran (1935) named this species Xiphocercus darlingtoni in recognition of its resemblances to X. valencienni Dumeril and Bibron from Jamaica. The genus Xiphocercus is now in the synonymy of Anolis; the two species are' very similar in general habitus and habits but are not closely related. Etheridge (1960: 92) stated that although these two species were externally similar, they differed in critical osteo-logical details (caudal vertebrae, number of attached and float-ing chevrons, and presence of autonomic septa). X. valencienni was like other Jamaican anoles in osteological characteristics and X. darlingtoni Uke several Haitian species. It seemed obvious that these two species were erroneously associated at the generic ^Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida 33167.
BioStor
