59 Correspondence All articles available online at http://www.salamandra-journal.com © 2010 Deutsche Gesellschaſt für Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde e.V. (DGHT), Rheinbach, Germany SALAMANDRA 46(1) 59–62 20 February 2010 ISSN 0036–3375 Correspondence Notes on the easternmost population of Diploglossus bilobatus (Squamata: Anguidae) in Veraguas, Panama Sebastian Lotzkat 1+2 , Leonhard Stadler 1+3 , Arcadio Carrizo 4 , Andreas Hertz 1+2 & Gunther Köhler 1 1) Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2) Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Institute for Ecology, Evolution & Diversity, BioCampus – Westend, Siesmayerstraße 70, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany 3) Justus-Liebig-University, Department of Animal Ecology, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26–32 (IFZ), 35392 Giessen, Germany 4) Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Desarrollo Sostenible, Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí, David, Panamá Corresponding author: Sebastian Lotzkat, e-mail: lotzkat@yahoo.com Manuscript received: 13 January 2009 Diploglossus bilobatus was described as Celestus bilobatus by O’Shaughnessy (874) based on a single specimen from ‘Costa Rica’. is moderate-sized anguid with sheathed claws is a terrestrial inhabitant of humid forests of low and premontane elevations (Savage 2002). Köhler (200) and Köhler et al. (2004) documented its presence in the Car- ibbean lowlands of Nicaragua. Myers (973) published the first record from Panama, referring to three specimens from the vicinity of Almirante in Bocas del Toro Province. Martínez & Rodriguez (992) and consequently Mar- tínez et al. (994) reported D. bilobatus from the vicinity of Santa Fé (Veraguas Province), extending its known dis- tribution by about 60 km to the southeast. However, their record was little noticed, as neither Y oung et al. (999) nor Köhler (2008) included Veraguas in the distribution of D. bilobatus. Unfortunately, the specimens collected around Santa Fé have since been lost (V. Martínez pers. comm.). Fieldwork conducted in western Panama in January 2006 as well as between May and August 2008 produced several specimens of Diploglossus bilobatus, both from Bo- cas del Toro and Veraguas provinces. It is the purpose of the present paper to report on the localities of, and the morphological variation among, these specimens. e specific identities of our specimens were deter- mined using taxonomic keys and species descriptions pro- vided by Ta ylor (956), Myers (973), Savage (2002), and Köhler (2008). Scale nomenclature follows Myers (973). Abbreviations for collectors are AC for Arcadio Carrizo, AH for Andreas Hertz, GK for Gunther Köhler, NH for Nadim Hamad, LS for Leonhard Stadler, and SL for Sebas- tian Lotzkat. Specimens labelled with LSt field numbers will be deposited in the collection of the Universidad Au- tónoma de Chiriquí, Davíd, Panama. e capitalized col- ours and colour codes (the latter in parentheses) are those of Smithe (975–98). e map (Fig. ) was created using DIVA–GIS and the NASA elevation datasets processed by Jarvis et al. (2006). General climate data for the region were taken from the WorldClim database (Hijmans et al. 2005). Distribution We provide the following records for Diploglossus bilobatus from western Panama: Bocas del Toro Province: Isla Popa, 9°3.23’N, 82°8.47’W, 0 m a.s.l.: one juvenile (SMF 85002, field number GK 559), collected by GK on 9 January 2006. Veraguas Prov- ince: Cerro Mariposa near Alto de Piedra, approx. 3.5 km W of Santa Fé, 8°30.96’N, 8°7.’W, 883 m a.s.l.: four adult females (SMF 89546–9; field numbers SL 24–7), collected by AH and SL on 2 May 2008; Cerro Mariposa, approx. 4 km W of Santa Fé, 8°30.9’N, 8°7.2’W, 933 m a.s.l.: ju- venile (field number LSt 89), collected by LS and NH on 2 August 2008. Cerro Negro, approx. 6 km NNW of Santa Fé, 8°34.53’N, 8°5.85’W, 063 m a.s.l.: one juvenile (SMF 8995), collected by AC on 29 July 2008. e juvenile specimen from Isla Popa documents the presence of D. bilobatus on an island of the Archipiela- go Bocas del Toro for the first time. e specimens from Cerro Mariposa – which corresponds to the ‘Cerro Tute’ of Martínez & Rodriguez (992) and Martínez et al. (994) – and Cerro Negro (see Fig. ) reconfirm the spe- cies’ presence in the area of Santa Fé, Veraguas, about 60 km SE from the records published by Myers (973). Since the Caribbean lowlands of western Panama form a contin- uous humid corridor, an uninterrupted occurrence of D. bilobatus along these lowlands and the adjacent northern versants of the western Panamanian highlands (Serranías de Talamanca and Tabasará) is to be presumed.