Tupinambis

Tupinambis is a lizard genus which belongs to the family Teiidae and contains eight described species. These large lizards are commonly referred to as tegus. They are primarily found in South America, although T. teguixin also occurs in Panama.

In 2012, a number of tegu species were reclassified from Tupinambis to the previously used genus Salvator. The newly proposed classification comes from a restructuring of the family Teiidae based upon the study of 137 morphological characteristics. The new classification is as follows: Salvator duseni (yellow tegu), Salvator rufescens (red tegu), Salvator merianae (Argentine black and white tegu), Tupinambis teguixin (gold tegu), Tupinambis longilineus (Rhondonia tegu), Tupinambis palustris (swamp tegu) and Tupinambis quadrilineatus (four-lined tegu).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Names

Tupinambis lizards are called teiú in Portuguese. The lizards are also called tishiriú in the extinct Tuxá language of Bahia, Brazil,<ref name="Pompeu">Pompeu Sobrinho, Thomaz. 1958. Línguas Tapuias desconhecidas do Nordeste: Alguns vocabulários inéditos. Boletim de Antropologia (Fortaleza-Ceará) 2. 3-19.</ref> and dzižuảsu in the extinct Potiguara language of Pernambuco, Brazil.<ref name="Meader-Nordeste">Template:Cite book</ref>

As with many other animals from tropical South America (e.g. the Cariamae), Tupinambis owes its scientific name to the pioneering accounts given by Piso & Marcgrave in their Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (1648). However, a misinterpretation (by Linnaeus) of the Latin text occurred, which reads "TEIVGVACV [...] Tupinambis", 'to the Tupinambá [Indigenous group] TEIVGVACU'. Tupinambis was merely a metalinguistic term meaning 'to/for the Tupinambá,' whereas the intended, indigenous name for the animal was teiú-guaçú [lizard-big]; lit. 'big lizard'.<ref>Cf. 'Etnolingüística' discussion list; 2/22/2012; http://lista.etnolinguistica.org/3167</ref>

Description

The Tupinambis species have heterodont dentition consisting of four different types of teeth.<ref name=dessem1985>Template:Cite journal</ref> Incisor-type—tricuspid—teeth reside at the tip of the mouth.<ref name=dessem1985 /> Recurved canine-type teeth occur further back on the tooth row.<ref name=dessem1985 /> Behind those reside a separate set of incisor-like teeth (though flattened in a perpendicular plane to the first set of incisors).<ref name=dessem1985 /> The rearmost teeth are blunt, rounded, peg-shaped teeth.<ref name=dessem1985 /> The rearmost two tooth classes only occur in sexually mature individuals, thus indicating an ontogenetic shift in tooth morphology.<ref name=dessem1985 /> Along with changes in tooth type, the frequency of each tooth type also changes with ontogeny, without an overall change in tooth count (approximately 70 teeth).<ref name=dessem1985 /> Rather than increase tooth count, the teeth themselves increase in size as the jaw grows from hatchling to adult.<ref name=dessem1985 /> This ontogenetic shift in tooth morphology suggests a shift in diet with age; however, few dietary studies have been done to support this claim and limited stomach content observations do not show much variability between hatchlings and juveniles.<ref name=dessem1985 /> T. teguxin is an omnivore, consuming both fruit and as well as invertebrate and vertebrate prey.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Taxonomy

Species listed alphabetically by specific name.<ref>Tupinambis, The Reptile Database</ref>

Species	Common name	Image
Tupinambis cryptus Murphy, Jowers, Lehtinen, Charles, Colli, Peres Jr., Hendry, & Pyron, 2016	cryptic golden tegu
Tupinambis cuzcoensis Murphy, Jowers, Lehtinen, Charles, Colli, Peres Jr., Hendry, & Pyron, 2016	Cusco tegu
Tupinambis longilineus Ávila-Pires, 1995	Rondonia tegu
Tupinambis matipu Silva, Ribeiro-Junior, & Ávila-Pires, 2018<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Tupinambis palustris Manzani & Abe, 2002	swamp tegu
Tupinambis quadrilineatus Manzani & Abe, 1997	four-lined tegu
Tupinambis teguixin (Linnaeus, 1758)<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>	gold tegu
Tupinambis zuliensis Murphy, Jowers, Lehtinen, Charles, Colli, Peres Jr., Hendry, & Pyron, 2016	Maracaibo Basin tegu

Evolution

Mitochondrial DNA analysis indicates a deep divergence between a northern clade (containing T. teguixin, T. palustris and T. quadrilineatus) and a southern clade (containing T. duseni).<ref>Fitzgerald et al., 1999</ref> The northern and southern clades are morphologically distinct, with the northern clade possessing a single pair of loreal scales between the eye and the nostril and a smooth texture to the scales on the body and the southern clade possessing two pairs of loreal scales and a bumpy texture to the scales on the body.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> At least one review of the morphology of the family Teiidae has placed the tegus of the southern clade in the genus Salvator.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Subsequent studies support the paraphyletic status of Tupinambis, though further research will be necessary to determine if the split will gain wider acceptance among the herpetological community.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Comparative analysis of hemipenial anatomy also provides support for the split between Tupinambis and Salvator.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Tegus probably originated sometime during the Cenozoic era. Tupinambis fossils from Argentina date back to the Late Miocene,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and further remains are also known from the Pleistocene of northwestern Argentina.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Fossils of the extinct tegu Paradracaena can be found in earlier Miocene deposits.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Further reading

• Boulenger GA. 1885. Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume II. ...Teiidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 497 pp. + Plates I-XXIV. (Genus Tupinambis, pp. 334–335).
• Daudin FM. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, Génerale et Particulière des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite à l'Histoire Naturelle générale et particulière, composée par Leclerc de Buffon, et rédigé par C.S. Sonnini, membre de plusieurs Sociétés savantes. Tome Troisième [Volume 3]. Paris: F. Dufart. 452 pp. (Tupinambis, new genus, pp. 5–6). (in French).