Monte Cristo Arboreal Alligator Lizard

MonteCristo Arboeral Alligator Lizard
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Anguidae
Genus:	Abronia
Species:	A. montecristoi
Binomial name
Abronia montecristoi Hidalgo, 1983

The Monte Cristo Arboeral Alligator Lizard (Abronia montecristoi) is an endangered species of lizard. This species is distributed in the cloud forests of El Salvador ^[2] as well as Honduras.^[3] This species is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List^[1]

Characteristics

While there is not much known about A. montecristoi, McCranie and Wilson described the color of the back as Antique Brown, with pale, Cinnamon colored crossbands with the color Buff-Yellow on its sides. The head is also colored Cinnamon. Its scales on the top of its head have little black dots. The sides of its head do not have these little black dots. Its frontal limbs are Cinnamon with its back limbs being Tawny. Its tail is colored Antique Brown. Also on its tail are Cinnamon colored crossbands. On its underside, the color is Cinnamon as well. Its eyes are pale, and greenish silver.^[3] As its name suggest, these lizards are found primarily in trees.

Ecology

There is very little known about the ecology in which A. montecristoi lives in. However, the species is an inhabitant of cloud forests which are a major source of biodiversity in the world. Cloud forests, as the name suggests, are covered by clouds because they are at high enough elevations where cloud formation occurs which ranges from about 5,000 to 10,000 feet.^[4] These cloud forests are a place where there is the constant flow of water because they are surrounded by clouds. This results in large biodiversity. Again, it is unclear how A. montecristoi intereacts with its environment, but this species does live primarily in the trees of the cloud forests.

Conservation

Since A. montecristoi inhabit many cloud forests, their future looks bleek. The reason for this is because many of the cloud forest are steadily disappearing. Some scientists estimate that the cloud forests will disappear in the near future. These cloud forests are a major place of biodiversity. A. montecristoi is just one of a vast number of species that calls these forests home. Conservation efforts are currently being made by the Tropical Montane Cloud Forest Initiative which is made up of three conservations program consisting of the United Nations Environment Program, the World Conservation Union, and the World Wide Fund for Nature.^[4]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} World Conservation Monitoring Centre (1996). Abronia montecristoi. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 18 February 2009.
2. ^ Hidalgo, H. (1983) 2 New Species of Abronia From the Cloud Forest of El-Salvador. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural History University of Kansas (105)pp.1-11.
3. ^ ^{a b} McCranie, James R. and Wilson, Larry David (1999) Status of the Anguid Lizard Abronia montecristoi. Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp.127-128.
4. ^ ^{a b} Roach, John (2001) Cloud Forests Fading in the Mist, Their Treasures little Known. National Geographic News [1]