Published October 4, 2021. Open access. | Gallery ❯ |
Cloudy Sticklizard (Pholidobolus vertebralis)
Reptiles of Ecuador | Sauria | Gymnophthalmidae | Pholidobolus | Pholidobolus vertebralis
English common name: Cloudy Sticklizard.
Spanish common names: Cuilanpalo nebuloso, lagartija arcoiris.
Recognition: ♂♂ 17.6 cmMaximum distance from the snout to the tip of the tail. Snout–vent length=6.3 cm. ♀♀ 17.1 cmMaximum distance from the snout to the tip of the tail. Snout–vent length=6.8 cm..1,2 Sticklizards differ from other lizards by having short but well-developed limbs, overlapping striated sub-hexagonal dorsal scales, and a brownish dorsal pattern with longitudinal stripes.3,4 The presence of six-sided finely wrinkled dorsal scales distinguishes Pholidobolus from other co-occurring small brownish lizards such as those in the genera Alopoglossus, Anadia, Andinosaura, Macropholidus, and Riama.5,6 The Cloudy Sticklizard (P. vertebralis) is the only sticklizard species in its range of distribution that has a conspicuous vertebral ribbon that transitions from green on the head and tan on the back to cyan on the tail.1,2,7 Males differ from females by having a broader head, a brighter coloration along the flanks, and more conspicuous ocelli. In the cloud forests of northwestern Ecuador, only Alopoglossus viridiceps may look alike, but this other lizard has strongly keeled and overlapping scales on the flanks, whereas in P. vertebralis the scales on the flanks are rounded and finely wrinkled.2,8
Figure 1: Individuals of Pholidobolus vertebralis from 5.5 km W Morán, Carchi province, Ecuador. j=juvenile.
Natural history: Locally frequentRecorded weekly in densities below five individuals per locality.. Pholidobolus vertebralis occurs in areas of evergreen montane forest and cloud forest, especially in clearings where the sunlight reaches the ground.2,9 The species is also found in disturbed areas such as along roads.10 Cloudy Sticklizards are terrestrial, diurnal, and are usually seen foraging on soil, leaf-litter, and among grass, or basking on rocks.2 When not active, they can be found hidden under rocks, logs, leaf-litter, surface objects such as tin, inside tunnels in earth walls, or among the axils of leaves.2,10,11 These lizards are active at air temperatures ranging from 15.2°C to 21.9°C and between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm, especially during sunny days, but also during cloudy days.2,9,11 If the weather is not suitable, individuals may be completely absent from the surface for days.9 The diet in this species is composed primarily of insects,2 but the specific prey items consumed are not known. When threatened, Cloudy Sticklizards hide quickly under vegetation; if handled, they may shed the tail or bite.10,11 The clutch size in this species is two eggs.2
Conservation: Near Threatened Not currently at risk of extinction, but requires some level of management to maintain healthy populations.. Pholidobolus vertebralis is proposed to be included in this category, instead of Least Concern,12 because the species is considerably less widely-distributed that previously thought. Instead of being distributed from Panama and Venezuela, through Colombia, to northern Peru,7 in this work, the “true” P. vertebralis is considered to be restricted to an area smaller than 5,000 km2 in northwestern Ecuador. Fortunately, the species has been recorded in 15 protected areas (Appendix 1) and occurs in an area of the country which retains most (~71%) of its forest cover. Therefore, P. vertebralis is considered to be facing no major immediate extinction threats. However, some populations are likely to be declining due to deforestation by logging and large-scale mining, especially in the provinces Carchi and Imbabura.
Distribution: Pholidobolus vertebralis is endemic to an estimated 4,783 km2 area along the Pacific slopes of the Andes in northwestern Ecuador. The species occurs at elevations between 1316 m and 2258 m (Fig. 2).
Figure 2: Distribution of Pholidobolus vertebralis in Ecuador. The star corresponds to the type locality: Intag, Imbabura province. See Appendix 1 for a complete list of the presence localities included in the map.
Etymology: The generic name Pholidobolus, which comes from the Greek words pholidos (meaning “scale”) and bolos (meaning “lump”),13 probably refers to the imbricated or mounted scales that are characteristic of the genus. The specific epithet vertebralis, which comes from the Latin words vertebra (meaning “backbone”) and the suffix -alis (means “pertaining to”),13 refers to the vertebral stripe in this lizard.
See it in the wild: Cloudy Sticklizards can be observed reliably by walking along cloud forest clearings during sunny mornings in reserves such as Las Gralarias, Santa Lucía, and Séptimo Paraíso. Individuals can also be found by searching under rocks and logs at the border between pastures and native forest.
Notes: Some studies7,14 show that populations of Pholidobolus vertebralis from Ecuador differ markedly from those traditionally assigned to this species in other countries. Although the limits between these populations have not been formally recognized as species, the name P. vertebralis is here conservatively applied only to those in Ecuador.
Special thanks to Roy Averill-Murray for symbolically adopting the Cloudy Sticklizard and helping bring the Reptiles of Ecuador book project to life.
Click here to adopt a species.
Authors: Amanda QuezadaaAffiliation: Tropical Herping (TH), Quito, Ecuador.,bAffiliation: Laboratorio de Herpetología, Universidad del Azuay, Cuenca, Ecuador. and Alejandro ArteagacAffiliation: Biodiversity Field Lab, Khamai Foundation, Quito, Ecuador.
Photographer: Jose VieiraaAffiliation: Tropical Herping (TH), Quito, Ecuador.,dAffiliation: ExSitu, Quito, Ecuador.
How to cite? Quezada A, Arteaga A (2021) Cloudy Sticklizard (Pholidobolus vertebralis). In: Arteaga A, Bustamante L, Vieira J, Guayasamin JM (Eds) Reptiles of Ecuador: Life in the middle of the world. Available from: www.reptilesofecuador.com. DOI: 10.47051/CMNZ4590
Literature cited:
- Uzzell T (1973) A revision of the genus Prionodactylus with a new genus for P. leucostictus and notes on the genus Euspondylus (Sauria, Teiidae). Postilla 159: 1–67.
- Arteaga A, Bustamante L, Guayasamin JM (2013) The amphibians and reptiles of Mindo. Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, Quito, 257 pp.
- Montanucci RR (1973) Systematics and evolution of the Andean Lizard genus Pholidobolus (Sauria: Teiidae). Miscellaneous Publications of the Museum of Natural History, University of Kansas 59: 1–52.
- Torres-Carvajal O, Venegas P, Lobos SE, Mafla-Endara P, Sales Nunes PM (2014) A new species of Pholidobolus (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Andes of southern Ecuador. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 8: 76–88.
- Peters JA, Donoso-Barros R (1970) Catalogue of the Neotropical Squamata: part II, lizards and amphisbaenians. Bulletin of the United States National Museum, Washington, D.C., 293 pp.
- Doan TM (2003) A new phylogenetic classification for the gymnophthalmid genera Cercosaura, Pantodactylus, and Prionodactylus (Reptilia: Squamata). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 137: 101–115. DOI: 10.1046/j.1096-3642.2003.00043.x
- Doan TM, Cusi JC (2014) Geographic distribution of Cercosaura vertebralis O’Shaughnessy, 1879 (Reptilia:Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) and the status of Cercosaura ampuedai. Check List 10: 1195–1200. DOI: 10.15560/10.5.1195
- Torres-Carvajal O, Lobos SE (2014) A new species of Alopoglossus lizard (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae) from the tropical Andes, with a molecular phylogeny of the genus. ZooKeys 410: 105–120. DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.410.7401
- Savit AZ (2006) Reptiles of the Santa Lucía Cloud Forest, Ecuador. Iguana 13: 94–103.
- Field notes, Reptiles of Ecuador book project.
- Averill-Murray RC, Averill-Murray A (2017) Notes on activity and habitat use of Pholidobolus vertebralis (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) at a cloud forest reserve in Ecuador. Herpetological Review 48: 728–730.
- Ibáñez R, Jaramillo C, Daza J, Caicedo J, Cisneros-Heredia DF, Perez P, Schargel W, Rivas G (2017) Pholidobolus vertebralis. The IUCN red list of threatened species. DOI: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T203052A2759538.en
- Brown RW (1956) Composition of scientific words. Smithsonian Books, Washington D.C., 882 pp.
- Hurtado-Gómez JP, Arredondo JC, Sales Nunes PM, Daza JM (2018) A new species of Pholidobolus (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Paramo ecosystem in the northern Andes of Colombia. South American Journal of Herpetology 13: 271–286. DOI: 10.2994/SAJH-D-15-00014.1
Appendix 1: Locality data used to create the distribution map of Pholidobolus vertebralis in Ecuador (Fig. 2). Go to the section on symbols and abbreviations for a list of acronyms used. Asterisk (*) indicates type locality.
| Country | Province | Locality | Source |
| Ecuador | Carchi | Bosque Protector Golondrinas | Photo by Santiago Hernández |
| Ecuador | Carchi | Cañón del Morán | iNaturalist |
| Ecuador | Carchi | Chical | iNaturalist |
| Ecuador | Carchi | Chilma Bajo | Torres-Carvajal et al. 2015 |
| Ecuador | Carchi | Maldonado | CM 94617 |
| Ecuador | Carchi | Río La Plata | DHMECN 3817 |
| Ecuador | Cotopaxi | Sigchos, below, Río Toachi Valley | Uzzell 1973 |
| Ecuador | Imbabura | Café Finca La Cascada | iNaturalist |
| Ecuador | Imbabura | Intag* | O’Shaughnessy 1879 |
| Ecuador | Imbabura | Manduriacu Reserve | Lynch et al. 2014 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve and Lodge | iNaturalist |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Birdwatcher’s House | This work |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Bosque Protector Cambugán | Yánez-Muñoz & Ortiz 2007 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Bosque Protector El Cedral | Venegas et al. 2016 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Hacienda San Vicente | Arteaga et al. 2013 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Las Gralarias Reserve | Averill-Murray & Averill-Murray 2017 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Las Tolas | Yánez-Muñoz et al. 2009 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Llambo, camino de Gualea | USNM 524164 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Maquipucuna Cloud Forest Reserve | Photo by Arthur Morris |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Mashpi Reserve | DHMECN 7188 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Mindo Biological Station | Arteaga et al. 2013 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Mindo Lindo Lodge | Photo by Heike Brieschke |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Mindo, terreno USFQ | iNaturalist |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Nanegal Grande | USNM 196216 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Nanegalito, 10 km E of | Uzzell 1973 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Nanegalito, 3 km E of | USNM 193946 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Pacha Quindi | Photo by Tony Nunnery |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Pacto, 5 km E of | Uzzell 1973 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Pahuma Orchid Reserve | Yánez-Muñoz 2007 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Río Blanco, near mouth of Río Yambi | Uzzell 1973 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Sachatamia Lodge | iNaturalist |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Santa Lucía Cloud Forest Reserve | Tolhurst et al. 2016 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Santa Rosa | This work |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Séptimo Paraíso Cloud Forest Reserve | Arteaga et al. 2013 |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Tandayapa Lodge | This work |
| Ecuador | Pichincha | Zaragoza, Lloa–Mindo trail | Yánez-Muñoz & Ramírez 2008 |
| Ecuador | Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas | Santo Domingo de los Colorados, province | USNM 196269 |