Karyotypes of the North American Parthenogenetic Whiptail Lizard Aspidoscelis velox, and Return of Aspidoscelis innotatus to the Synonymy of A. velox (Reptilia: Squamata: Teiidae)

Abstract

Aspidoscelis velox is a triploid parthenogenetic species with clonal inheritance. We studied karyotypes of population samples representing diverse localities from much of its range. All specimens were triploids, but six different karyotypes were found with small differences among them, apparently resulting from chromosomal mutations that occurred after the origin of the species. As in other parthenogens, karyotypes and allozymes reveal variant clones in A. velox, but we do not recommend naming any of these genetic lineages as separate species. Specimens from the vicinity of Kanab, Kane County, Utah, have been treated by other herpetologists as a separate but morphologically similar species, Aspidoscelis innotatus, based on the assumption that they represented a diploid species. That assumption, made without any genetic evidence of ploidy, was recently based on evidence of histoincompatibility among certain population samples, but that could have been caused by factors other than ploidy (e.g., mutations at histocompatibility loci). We have examined specimens from Kane County, Utah, and all individuals were triploids similar to other population samples of A. velox from Arizona and New Mexico. 1 Division of Vertebrate Zoology (Herpetology), American Museum of Natural History. 2 Division of Sciences and Mathematics, Louisiana State University Eunice, LA. 3 Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR. 2 AMERICAN MUSEUM NOVITATES NO. 3936