. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology. 234 E. N. ARNOLD L. andreanszkii Podarcis L. dugesii —i L. perspicillata —' large scales in eyelid 24 interclavicle arms slope backwards sternal fontanelle oval 43 no masseteric scale. Fig. 22 Relationships of Podarcis and its possible relatives. Characters , and 72 found in Podarcis are paralleled in Lacerta danfordi etc. For further explanation, see caption of Fig. 20 L. lepida, L. pater and L. princeps have often been associated with the Lacerta agilis group, for instance by Boulenger (1920) and Arnold (1973), but ot
. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Zoology. 234 E. N. ARNOLD L. andreanszkii Podarcis L. dugesii —i L. perspicillata —' large scales in eyelid 24 interclavicle arms slope backwards sternal fontanelle oval 43 no masseteric scale. Fig. 22 Relationships of Podarcis and its possible relatives. Characters , and 72 found in Podarcis are paralleled in Lacerta danfordi etc. For further explanation, see caption of Fig. 20 L. lepida, L. pater and L. princeps have often been associated with the Lacerta agilis group, for instance by Boulenger (1920) and Arnold (1973), but other authors have placed some or all of them close to Gallotia (Peters, 1961; Bohme, 1971). In fact, morphological and biochemical evi- dence does not corroborate this latter view, and albumin immunology and protein electrophoresis (Lutz and Mayer, 1984) suggest that L. lepida and its relations are more closely allied to Podarcis, the archaeolacertas and L. graeca than they are to the Lacerta agilis group. However, there is no obvious supporting morphological evidence here either. In- stead, a non-unique series of derived features is shared with the Lacerta agilis group, including large adult size, usual ossification of the temporal scales (19), no septum on the bodenaponeurosis (82), frequent green dorsal colouring, no bright belly colour and no blue spots on the outer ventral scales (60). L. lepida and its two close relatives also share a distinctive growth pattern with the Lacerta agilis group in which hatchlings are very 'embryonic' with a very large rounded head and short extremities, and head length shows strong allometric increase in adult males. These growth characteristics do not occur in other large lacertids, such as Lacerta jayakari or the species of Gallotia. L. lepida, L. 17 jugal stepped sternal fontanelle clearly heartshaped , C-pattern caudal vertebrae 72 hemipenial lobes long 80 oviducts at tips of genital sinus 30R inscriptional ribs frequent
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