View source for Biology:Mesaspis moreletii

{{Speciesbox
| image = Mesaspis moreletii.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system=IUCN3.1
| status_ref =<ref name=iucn>{{cite iucn|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/details/176254/0  |title=''Mesaspis moreletii ''|author=Veselý M. |year=2010 |access-date= 7 April 2012|ref=harv}}</ref>
| genus = Mesaspis
| species = moreletii
| authority = (Bocourt, 1872)
| range_map = Mesaspis moreletii distribution.png
| synonyms =
* ''Gerrhonotus moreletii'' {{small|Bocourt, 1872}}
* ''Barisia moreletii'' {{small|Tihen, 1949}}
* ''Mesaspis moreleti'' {{small|Liner, 1994}}
|synonyms_ref =<ref>"''Mesaspis moreletii'' ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.</ref> 
}}

'''''Mesaspis moreletii''''', commonly known as '''Morelet's alligator lizard''', is a [[Biology:Species|species]] of [[Biology:Lizard|lizard]] in the family [[Biology:Anguidae|Anguidae]]. The species is [[Biology:Endemism|endemic]] to Central America.<ref name=iucn/>

==Etymology==
The [[Biology:Specific name (zoology)|specific name]], ''moreletii'', is in honor of French [[Earth:Natural history|naturalist]] Pierre Marie Arthur Morelet.<ref name="EDR">Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Del Campo", p. 69; "''Mesaspis moreleti'' [sic]", pp. 182-183; "''Mesaspis moreleti'' [sic] ''rafaeli''", p. 215).</ref>

==Geographic range==
''M. moreletii'' is native to southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and possibly Nicaragua.<ref name=iucn/>

==Habitat==
The natural [[Earth:Habitat|habitat]] of ''M. moreletii'' consists of Central American pine-oak forests and [[Biology:Cloud forest|cloud forest]]s between {{convert|1,450|and|2,530|m|ft}} above sea level.<ref name=iucn/>

==Subspecies==
The following [[Biology:Subspecies|subspecies]] are recognized as being valid:<ref name=iucn/>

*''Mesaspis moreletii moreletii'' {{small|(Bocourt, 1872)}}
*''Mesaspis moreletii fulvus'' {{small|(Bocourt, 1871)}}
*''Mesaspis moreletii rafaeli'' {{small|(Hartweg & Tihen, 1946)}}
*''Mesaspis moreletii salvadorensis'' {{small|(Hartweg & Tihen, 1946)}}
*''Mesaspis moreletii temporalis'' {{small|(Hartweg & Tihen, 1946)}}

''[[Social:Nota bene|Nota bene]]'': A [[Biology:Trinomen|trinomial authority]] in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a [[Biology:Genus|genus]] other than ''Mesaspis''.

The [[Biology:Subspecies|subspecific name]], ''rafaeli'', is in honor of Mexican [[Biology:Herpetology|herpetologist]] Rafael Martín del Campo.<ref name="EDR"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Bocourt MF ("1871", 1872). "''Description de quelques Gerrhonotes nouveaux provenant du Mexique et de l'Amérique centrale'' ". ''Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris'' '''7''' (4): 101-108. ("''Gerrhonotus moreleti'' [sic], ''n. sp.''", new species, p.&nbsp;102; "''Gerrh. moreletii'' [sic]", pp.&nbsp;103–104). (in French).

{{Taxonbar|from=Q2712286}}

[[Category:Anguids]]

{{Sourceattribution|Mesaspis moreletii|1}}