Despite advances within particular groups, systematics of the Teiidae has long been unsatisfactory, because fewmorphological characters have been described for this family. Consequently, most species have been assigned to the large,polyphyletic, and poorly defined genera Ameiva and Cnemidophorus. We describe 137 morphological characters andscore them for most species of Neotropical Teiidae. Important, but previously undescribed, character suites include pupilshape; the frontal ridge; longitudinal division of the interparietal; the rostral groove; patterns of supraciliary fusion; thepreauricular skin fold; the “toothy” first supralabial; modified apical granules; the pectoral sulcus; expansion of scales atthe heel; tibiotarsal shields; scales between the digital lamellae along the postaxial edges of the toes; scale surfacemicrostructure of macrohoneycomb, macroridges, or lamellae; distribution patterns and morphology of lenticular scaleorgans; types of epidermal generation glands; and several hemipenial structures. We propose a new taxonomy of theTeiidae based on recovered evolutionary history and numerous morphological characters surveyed in this study. Werecognize three subfamilies: Callopistinae new subfamily, Teiinae Estes et al., and Tupinambinae Estes et al. To resolvepolyphyly of Ameiva and Cnemidophorus, we erect four new genera for various groups of Neotropical Teiidae: Ameivulanew genus, Aurivela new genus, Contomastix new genus, and Medopheos new genus. We resurrect Holcosus Cope fromthe synonymy of Ameiva and Salvator Duméril and Bibron from the synonymy of Tupinambis. On the basis of sharedderived characters, we propose new species groups of our redefined Ameiva and Cnemidophorus. We incorporate our newcharacters into a key to the genera and species groups of Teiidae. A phylogenetic hypothesis of Teiidae based onmorphological characters differs substantially from hypotheses based on mitochondrial DNA. The phylogeny based onmorphology is consistent with well-established biogeographic patterns of Neotropical vertebrates and explains extreme morphological divergence in such genera as Kentropyx and Aurivela.

We update the list of reptiles of Venezuela, reporting a total of 370 species from the country (four of these exotic), arrangedin 122 genera (one exotic), 30 families and three orders. Introduced species and dubious or erroneous records are discussed.Taxonomic, nomenclatural and distributional comments are provided when required. Considering species of probableoccurrence in the country (known to occur in Colombia, Brazil and Guyana at localities very close to the Venezuelan border) and still undescribed taxa, we estimate that the total number of species in Venezuela could exceed 400.Se actualiza la lista de reptiles de Venezuela a un total de 370 especies (cuatro de ellas exóticas), pertenecientes a 122géneros (un exótico), 30 familias y tres órdenes. Se discuten las especies introducidas, los registros dudosos o erróneos yse proporcionan comentarios taxonómicos, nomenclaturales o de distribución en casos necesarios. Después de considerarlas especies de probable presencia en el país (registros conocidos cercanos a la frontera con Colombia, Brasil y Guyana) y los taxones aun no descritos, se estima que el número total de especies en Venezuela podría superar las 400 especies.

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Cnemidophorus nigricolor consists of at least three species rather than a single taxon distributed throughout the Venezuelan Caribbean islands. We describe two new species, one from Isla La Blanquilla and another from Isla La Tortuga. Both species were previously confused with C. nigricolor. The species from Isla La Tortuga is critically threatened by recent plans to develop the island for tourism. We comment on similarities among the two new species, C. nigricolor, and other insular Cnemidophorus. The whiptails from the southern Caribbean are revised and diagnoses are given for species inhabiting Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, and the Los Roques Archipelago. Additionally, Cnemidophorus ruthveni (formerly C. murinus ruthveni) is recognized as a full species.RESÚ MEN: Se demuestra que la especie Cnemidophorus nigricolor, considerada anteriormente como monotípica, esta compuesta por al menos tres especies distribuidas por varias de las islas del Caribe Venezolano. Describimos dos especies nuevas, una de la Isla La Blanquilla y una de la Isla La Tortuga. Ambos taxones fueron anteriormente referidos a la especie C. nigricolor, cuya distribució n restringimos al Archipié lago de Los Roques en el presente trabajo. La especie de la Isla La Tortuga podría estar en peligro critico debido a planes recientes para desarrollar la isla con fines turísticos. El estado taxonó mico de las poblaciones de el Archipié lago de Las Aves y de la Isla La Orchila, anteriormente referidas a C. nigricolor, y tentativamente aquí llamadas C. cf. nigricolor, permanece incierto hasta que se pueda examinar un mayor nú mero de ejemplares. Tambié n comentamos en el estudio las similitudes entre las dos especies nuevas, C. nigricolor y otras especies de Cnemidophorus presentes en las islas al sur del mar Caribe. Revisamos las especies de Cnemidophorus que habitan Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire y el archipié lago de Los Roques, además de proporcionar una diagnosis para cada taxó n. Adicionalmente sugerimos elevar la subespecie C. murinus ruthveni de Bonaire a especie plena.

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Anolis nigropunctatus is herein synonymized with Anolis jacare. We redescribe A. jacare on the basis of 40 specimens from Trujillo, Mérida and Táchira states in Venezuela as well as from Norte De Santander in Colombia, thus greatly expanding the known distribution of the species. We describe A. anatoloros n. sp., a new species of Anolis lizard from the Andes of Venezuela that is closely related to A. jacare. This species inhabits the premontane wet forests of the eastern Andean piedmont in the states of Barinas, Portuguesa and Trujillo and is likely a vicariant of A. jacare. The two species differ in dewlap and body coloration as well as in certain details of the head squamation. A. anatoloros sp. nov. is characterized by a turquoise green dewlap, large scales bordering the inner margin of the supraciliar series, usually a higher number of suboculars in contact with supralabials and large scales around the interparietal.

The occurrence of Gymnophthalmus lineatus in Venezuela is established for the first time based on a specimen collected on Las Aves Archipelago. We also document the first records of Phyllodactylus ventralis from Los Frailes Archipelago, Amphisbaena alba from Isla de Margarita, and report the occurrence of Thecadactylus cf. rapicauda on Las Aves Archipelago. Additionally we expand the distribution of the snake Leptophis ahaetulla on Isla de Margarita and report the third specimen known from that island. We also present information on the lepidosis and coloration for all species when pertinent.