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A new species of Amphisbaena is described from the Cabo Cruz region of eastern Cuba. It shares with two other Cuban species, Amphisbaena barbouri (new rank) and A. cubana, fusion of the second supralabial and ocular scales. It is a pallid, long-tailed, xerophilic species associated with dry, coastal limestone habitats. In the West Indies, amphisbaenians occur only on the island banks of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico (Schwartz and Henderson, 1991). Three species are currently recognized from Cuba: Amphisbaena blanoides, A. palirostrata, and A. cubana. The first two occur in western Cuba and were placed in the genus Cadea until recently (Hedges, 1996; Powell et al., 1996). A fourth taxon, barbouri, was described as a subspecies of A. cubana (Gans and Alexander, 1962). It has a peculiar distribution in west-central Cuba in that it is known only from coastal or near-coastal localities in the north (Havana-Matanzas) and south (Bay of Pigs-Cienfuegos). Specimens from east and west (including Isla de Juventud) of these areas are assigned to the nominate subspecies (Schwartz and Henderson, 1991) and no morphologically intermediate specimens are known despite the close proximity of some localities and apparent sympatry at Soledad, Cienfuegos Province (Gans and Alexander, 1962). For these reasons (and, see below), we choose to recognize A. barbouri at the species level. During July, 1994, we collected along the south coast of eastern Cuba ("Oriente") in the provinces of Granma and Santiago de Cuba. Although the entire coast between Cabo Cruz in the west and Cabo Maisi in the east is generally dry, the areas near the two capes are more xeric 3Author for correspondence and reprints. E-mail: sbhl@psu.edu than the intermediate coast. In the western xeric area (Meseta de Cabo Cruz), between Cabo Cruz and Boca del Toro, a series of limestone terraces descends stepwise to the coast, and the xeric scrub vegetation grows within solution holes in the limestone. The conditions are very reminiscent of the xeric, scrub-covered, terraced limestone on the southern part of the Barahona Peninsula in Hispaniola. Within a kilometer to the west of Boca del Toro we collected four specimens of a distinctive, slender, pale species of Amphisbaena. A fifth specimen of this new species, also from the Cabo Cruz region, was found among specimens of A. cubana in the collection of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. MATERIALS AND METHODS Scale counts were taken according to the criteria of Gans and Alexander (1962); measurements of head scales were taken with a dissecting microscope and digital readout micrometer caliper. The count of total half-annular segments of the head is a count of the segments dorsal to the splitting of the second body annulus into two half-annuli, which may be given as a total count (the number of segments in anterior halfannulus + number of segments in posterior half-annulus). Snout-vent length (SVL) and tail measurements were taken to the nearest mm by laying the specimen along a ruler. Other length measurements were made with a digital readout micrometer caliper and recorded to the nearest 0.1 mm. Drawings of head scalation 92 This content downloaded from 157.55.39.180 on Mon, 25 Apr 2016 06:02:31 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms NEW CUBAN AMPHISBAENIAN FIG. 1. Amphisbaena carlgansi, from the type-locality in Granma Province, Cuba. were made with a camera lucida attachment to a Wild dissecting microscope. Museum abbreviations follow standardized usage (Leviton et al., 1985), except for MNHNCU, which refers to the collection of the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural (Havana, Cuba). Amphisbaena carlgansi, sp. nov. Figs. 1-2 Holotype.-MNHNCU 4421, a female, taken on the second limestone terrace above the sea, within 1 km west of Boca del Toro, Granma Province, Cuba, ca. 50 m. Collected on 8 July 1994 by Richard Thomas; fixed in 80-90% ethanol. Original field tag number 193876.

A new species of the genus Amphisbaena is described from Pampa Grande, Santa Cruz De- partment, Bolivia. The species is externally similar to A. darwini. It differs from other species of the genus by a unique combination of characters including the lack of postmalar row and a relatively high number of segments to a midbody annulus.

Locomotor activity of Amphisbaena manni, A. gonavensis, Typhlops biminiensis, and T. pusila was recorded by aktographs. All species were predominantly nocturnal, Typhlops more so than Amphisbaena. All species, with the exception of A. manni, showed evidence of strong endogenous circadian rhythms of activity when kept in continuous light.

1 Crotalus 2 Boa 3 Cpluber 4 Anguis 5 Amphisbaena 6 Coecilia When it is realized that under Lacerta he included both the crocodiles and the salamanders, it must be admitted that the arrangement was very artificial. It was, nevertheless, accepted by most writers until the end of the eighteenth century. Two years after the publication of the 12th edition of the Systema Naturae-there appeared in Vienna a small book (216 octavo pages) entitled: Josephi Nicolai / Laurenti / Austriaci Viennensis / Specimen / Medicum, / exhibens / Synopsin Reptilium / Emendatam / cum experimentis circa venena / et Antidota Reptilium Austriacorum. / [Vignette]-Viennae, / Typ. Joan., Thornm. Nob. de Trattnern, / Caes. Reg. Auhe Typogr. et Bibliop. / -1768. The book falls into two quite distinct parts, the first, embracing 110 pages, a systematic descriptive part simply headed "Classis Reptilium" (p. 19), and a second part (pp. 111-214) with the following heading: "Historia Reptilium Austriacorum, continens singulae speciei differentiam, descriptionem et instituta circa venena experimenta." It is accompanied by five folded copper-engraved plates with 19 figures representing Austrian amphibians and reptiles. Only the first part interests us here. In it Laurenti1 divides the Class Reptilia into three orders, Salientia, Gradientia and Serpentia, and these three again into 35 genera, some of which had already been indicated by Gronovius. The order Salientia contains the toads and frogs; the Serpentia embraces snakes and legless lizards and amphibians; and although the Gradientia still includes the salamanders, lizards and crocodiles, the arrangement is a distinct advance on that of Linnaeus. The great improvement consists in the large number of new genera adopted. Nevertheless I know of a single author only among his early successors who accepted his classification in practically all its details, including his generic nomenclature, viz., Aug. Joh. Georg. Carl Batsch in his two-volume "Versuch einer Anleitung zur Kenntnisz und Geschichte der Thiere und Mineralien."2

lying in long. 32025'30"W and lat. 3050'10"S, at a distance of 194 miles NE from Cape San Roque, coast of Brazil" (Ridley, 1890: 473). Boulenger's description was adequate, though comparison was based on the poor sample of South American species of the genus then in the British Museum. Unfortunately he discussed at length two specimens (from "Porto Bello") previously misidentified as Amphisbaena caeca Cuvier, a species restricted to Puerto Rico (Gans and Alexander, 1962). He compared A. ridleyi only with the latter, of which he had but one specimen. Boulenger's emphasis on comparison with an Antillean form and his misassignment of an endemic skink to a species found in Demerara (Schmidt, 1945: 45), led Ridley (1890, 1890a) to the unfounded conclusion that "the Amphisbaena and the Skink are . . . allied not to Brazilian but to West-Indian forms," a statement that was later repeated by Scharff (1912:385; see also Mertens, 1924). The only reported post-Boulengerian collection was made by a Lt. Finley (Finley, 1945), who apparently took five specimens. Of these one has since been deposited in the Chicago Natural History Museum, and the other four in the Klauber collection. Other