Morphological Differentiation in Unisexual and Bisexual Xantusiid Lizards of the Genus Lepidophyma in Central America

Multivariate analyses of variation in 30 scale characters for specimens of Lepidophyma from 63 Central American localities identify five morphological groups. Univariate comparisons of the groups diagnose four morphospecies. Two of these, L. smithii and L. mayae, appear to be bisexual. The all-female populations on the Pacific versant of Costa Rica are morphologically distinct and comprise L. reticulatum, which is sympatric with members of the L. flavimaculatum complex near Tilaran, Guanacaste.Province. The all-female populations found in Panama and most of Caribbean Costa Rica are not distinguishable from northern populations that contain males, and these are retained together in the L. flavimaculatum complex. Within this complex, the available data on morphology, karyotypes, and allozymes suggest that the all-female populations may be of non-hybrid (spontaneous) origin.