Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Tupinambis nigropunctatus in the pet trade?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central FL
    Posts
    4,349

    Default Tupinambis nigropunctatus in the pet trade?

    I saw an old tegu info sheet from 2005 that claimed T. rufescens was the most prized pet tegu, T. teguixin was rarely found in captivity, and T. nigropunctatus is the "gold tegu" in captivity that I think of as T. teguixin. I'm not if the source of this info was in the US or abroad. Tupinmabis, do you know anything about this claim?
    Laura R (FL)
    1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
    1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
    1.2.0 Red Tegu
    1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
    1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
    7 other lizards
    1 little gator
    3 FL box turtle
    1 Sulcata tortoise
    16 snakes
    5 fuzzy pets
    4 little frogs
    a bunch of creepy bugs
    and a partridge in a pear tree

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Buhl, I*daho
    Posts
    311

    Default

    I saw the same thing but can't remember where. It seems like I remember thinking it was older than 2005 and perhaps reprinted in 2005. It also had a tone of being either translated and definitely an overseas, perhaps South American, piece. Where did you see it?
    Dana

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Buhl, I*daho
    Posts
    311

    Default

    I just saw it on the Rain Forest Pet Store site. IMHO, the first 5 or so paragraphs are very dated and most likely copied from somewhere.
    I will try to find it somewhere else.......my curiosity has been fired up!

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    Buhl, I*daho
    Posts
    311

    Default

    I found out some interesting information. The name, T. nigropunctatus, was renamed and reffered to in scientific literature as T. Teguixin since 1995. The name change suggetion came as early as 1973. My source is:
    http://printfu.org/read/fwc-bioprofi...6SYm57izdSWofI.
    I know it is a long link but I think I posted a shorer version last week which also worked.
    The paper has a ton of interesting information including that 7 species have been described.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,233

    Default

    The scientific names of tegus have been in a state of flux for quite some time, a lot due to some poorly written papers wherein certain naturalists mistook one species for another, denied the existence of some, and generally made a real mess of the genus. Most recently, that which we now recognize as Tupinambis teguixin was previously classified as Tupinambis nigropunctatus. That which we now recognize as Tupinambis merianae was previously classified as Tupinambis teguixin. There are a lot more changes than these that have gone before, but this is the most recent. A lot of the confusion was cleared up in the Avila-Pires monograph. If you're wondering why all the changes, it doesn't have to do with people wanting to change it for whatever reason, it has to do with nomenclature rules. Basically, a lot of what taxonomists do is try to find the very first description of a species, match it to the submitted holotype (the specimen that was catalogued and submitted to a museum) and then go by the original name given. It sounds confusing, but what it means is (at least as far as we can tell) the species epithet merianae was the very first name used to describe what people call the Argentine Black & White tegu, but over time other naturalists were either unaware of earlier works or fealt they had a different species and called it something else, and so on, and so on, until where nowadays we have people trying to clear up the mess and get back to the original name.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central FL
    Posts
    4,349

    Default

    So does the name T. nigropunctatus exist in current nomenclature separately from T. teguixin or has it been replaced completely? That does sound familiar, perhaps I just have not thought of it for many years.

    Thank you.
    Laura R (FL)
    1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
    1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
    1.2.0 Red Tegu
    1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
    1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
    7 other lizards
    1 little gator
    3 FL box turtle
    1 Sulcata tortoise
    16 snakes
    5 fuzzy pets
    4 little frogs
    a bunch of creepy bugs
    and a partridge in a pear tree

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,233

    Default

    nigropunctatus has, for the moment, been retired. As science would say, nigropunctatus is synonymous with teguixin, a junior synonym to be exact (meaning teguixin takes precedence). However, in the future someone may find that there's evidence to support the argument that T. teguixin is actually 2 species and decide that nigropunctatus be resurrected to name the "new" species.

  8. #8

    Default

    Thanks Dana C for sharing that link. Lots of great information there on many questions I've had. It seems like T. Marianae needs much more fruit as adult and i never thought to feed frogs and snails.

    A question for Tupinambis. From what I've been reading the yellow tegu T. Duseni and the red tegu T. Rufescens are genetically indistinguishable. Could it be these two species are synonymous as well?

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Earth
    Posts
    1,233

    Default

    No, Tupinambis rufescens and T. duseni have indeed been proven to be distinct species genetically. I believe you're referring to an earlier article wherein a very shallow genetic analysis was utilized. Tupinambis duseni and T.rufescens are very closely related, and genetic analysis indicates that they are recently split or have recently interbred extensively, but they are not genetically identical. They are not synonymous.

  10. #10

    Default

    Interesting thanks for the reply Tupinambis.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •