Patterns of Variation within Diploglossine Lizards

Some of the species currently assigned to the genus Diploglossus Wiegmann (Wermuth, 1969) are occasionally found to be referred to Celestus Gray. Underwood (1959) placed this latter genus into synonymy with Diploglossus. The proposed (Underwood, 1959) synonymy of the monotypic genus Sauresia Gray from Hispaniola and from the Gonave Islands with Diploglossus appears somewhat more conjectural, however. A fourth genus to be included within the Diploglossinae is Wetmorena Cochran from Hispaniola. Cochran (1941) considers Sauresia to be structurally intermediate between Cuban and Puerto Rican Celestus and Wetmorena: it lacks a fifth toe as does Wetmorena but shows a laterally exposed tympanum which is covered with skin in Wetmorena.