Tropidurus Wied, 1824 is an iguanian lizard widely distributed in cis-Andean South America (Rodrigues, 1987). This genus has at least 25 species currently accepted, although the taxonomy of some species (in special, in the Tropidurus of group torquatus) is still controversial (Rodrigues, 1987; Frost, 1992; Frost et al., 2001; Uetz, 2013). The species of Tropidurus of group torquatus are characterized by a generalist and opportunist diet, and typically occur in open areas, coastal salt marshes and some offshore islands, especially when rocky substrates are present (e.g. Rodrigues, 1987; Frost, 1992; Frost et al., 2001). Furthermore, some species in this group are frequently recorded in urbanized environments (e.g. Kohlsdorf et al., 2006).

Here, we report a single specimen of Tropidurus gr. torquatus with an abnormal bifid tail. It consists of a complete adult male (Fig. 1). It was found dead on an urbanized street in September of 2012 in the Abadia neighborhood, Uberaba City, Minas Gerais State,

Brazil (GPS: 19º45´34.9´´S/47º47´40.9´´W; WGS 84; elevation 793m). Due to the tissue condition and the absence of ants or other invertebrates, this specimen would have died a few hours before it was collected. There were no external injuries; therefore, the cause of the dead remains unknown. The specimen is housed at the Zoological Collection (Zo) of the Complexo Cultural e Científico de Peirópolis (CCCP) of the Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro (UFTM), Uberaba, Minas Gerais (Brazil) under the collection number CCCP-Zo 0015.

The snout-vent length is 111.70mm and the vent-main tail length is 118.23mm. The anomalous tail is observed clearly, possessing two distinctive branches at the rear (Fig. 1). In dorsal view, the left branch measures 11.24mm and constitutes the main, original tail, slightly bent to the left side possibly indicating an injury at this point. This branch is slightly wider than the right one and it is continuous with the main edges of the tail. On the other hand, the right branch is antero-posterior longer, measuring 19.19mm, and slender. It diverges from the main tail at an angle of approximately 50°. The right branch likely constitutes the secondary, abnormal tip of the tail. X-ray and tomography of the specimen show that both branches have rigid internal tissues, but we could not assess if the abnormal branch is formed by discrete vertebrae or cartilage. At hand, the left branch is more rigid than the pathological one. The former has discrete, although small, vertebrae.

Apparently, a bifid tail was hitherto not formally reported in Tropidurus. Nonetheless, bifurcated tails have been reported in the literature for several group of lizards, such as Agamidae (Brindley, 1898; Chandra and Mukherjee, 1980; Anajeva and Danov, 1991), Scincidae, Lacertidae, Iguanidae (Brindley, 1898), Gekkonidae (Woodland, 1920; Chan et al., 1984) and Teiidae (Gogliath et al., 2012). Several studies have demonstrated that the presence of bifid or polyfid

Herpetology Notes, volume 6: 369-371 (2013) (published online on 23 August 2013)

Abnormality in the tail of the collated lizard Tropidurus gr. torquatus (Iguania, Tropiduridae) from Uberaba city, Minas Gerais State, Brazil

Rafael L. Martins1, Pedro G. Peixoto2, 3, Pedro H. M. Fonseca2, Agustín G. Martinelli2, 4*, Wagner R. Silva1 and Afonso Pelli3

1 Instituto de Ciências Exatas, Naturais e Educação (ICENE). Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro, Rua Getúlio Guaritá, 159, Bairro Abadia, 38025-440 - Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

2 Centro de Pesquisas Paleontológicas L. I. Price, Complexo Cultural e Científico Peirópolis (CCCP/UFTM), BR-262, Km784, Bairro Peirópolis, 38039-755, Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

3 Disciplina de Ecologia & Evolução. Departamento de Patologia, Genética e Evolução. Instituto de Ciências Biológicas e Naturais (ICBN). Universidade Federal do Triangulo Mineiro. Av. Frei Paulino, 30. Bairro Abadia. Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

4 Departamento de Paleontologia e Estratigrafia, Instituto de Geociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Avenida Bento Gonçalves, 9500 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.

*Corresponding Author: agustin_martinelli@yahoo.com.ar

Rafael L. Martins et al.370

tails is frequently developed during the regeneration process that follows autotomy. This process has been widely described in various groups of lizards, such as Gekkonidae, Pygodidae, Scincidae, Lacertidae, Teiidae, Anguidae, Cordylidae, Xantusiidae, Dibamidae, Iguanidae, Chamaeleonidae, Agamidae, Varanidae, Lanthanotidae, Helodermatidae (Anajeva and Danov, 1991), including Tropiduridae (Sluys et al., 2002; Galdino et al., 2006).

Due to the lack of a total breakdown of the main row, the injured point allowed the generation of an additional tip (Chan et al., 1984; Gogliath et al., 2012). As such, we likely discard that the anomaly described here was caused by purely genetic or environmental (e.g. pollution, pesticides, etc.) factors. The injury apparently did not affect the mode of life of this individual.

Acknowledgements. We thank the financial support for this research provided by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG), the Conselho Nacional

de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), and the Fundação de Ensino e Pesquisa de Uberaba (FUNEPU). Specially thank are to V.P.A. Teixeira (CCCP/UFTM) and M.L.F. Ferraz (CCCP/UFTM) for their help during the development of this work, and to E. Felix (UFTM) and R. Goubart (UFTM) for X-ray and tomography assistance. M.T. Rodrigues (IB/USP) and M.A. De Sena (IB/USP) provided successful comments that improved the manuscript.

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Figure 1. Abnormal tail in Tropidurus gr. torquatus (Tropiduridae) from Uberaba city, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Complete specimen CCCP-Zo 0015 (A), tomography (B), a detail of the end of the tail (C) in dorsal and ventral views. Scale = 10 mm.

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