The Key tegu (Echinosaura keyi), also known commonly as Key's teiid, is a species of lizard in the family Gymnophthalmidae. The species is endemic to the northwestern part of Ecuador.
Taxonomy The first description of Echinosaura keyi was published in 1969 by Thomas H. Fritts and Hobart Muir Smith, under the name Teuchocercus keyi, the type species of the genus Teuchocercus. The specific name, keyi, is in honor of American physician and amateur herpetologist George Key (1942–1999),Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Teuchocercus keyi, p. 140). who collected the holotype of the species, a male, in February 1966, with the type locality given as west of "Rio Baba bridge", south of Santo Domingo, Ecuador, at an elevation of about . A 2016 paper moved the species to the genus Echinosaura.
Description The Key tegu has five digits with sharp claws on each limb, and a tail with six transverse rows of greatly enlarged scales that have a conical shape. Its dorsum is brown with white spots, while its belly chequered in brown and white. It is an oviparous species.
Distribution and habitat The Key tegu is endemic to an area of Ecuador that is under in size. The area spans elevations of in the provinces of Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas, Pichincha and Esmeraldas, with the habitat consisting of the Western Ecuador moist forests and the western slopes of the Andes, with their humid evergreen forests. In these forests the Key tegu is usually found along streams. It is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List due to the limited extent of its distribution.
References
Further reading Torres-Carvajal O (2001). "Lizards of Ecuador: Checklist, Distribution, and Systematic References". Smithsonian Herpetological Information Service (131): 1–35. (Teuchocercus keyi, p. 14). Torres-Carvajal, Omar; Lobos, Simón E.; Venegas, Pablo J.; Chávez, Germán; Aguirre-Peñafiel, Vanessa; Zurita, Daniel; Echevarría, Lourdes Y. (2016). "Phylogeny and biogeography of the most diverse clade of South American gymnophthalmid lizards (Squamata, Gymnophthalmidae, Cercosaurinae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 99: 63–75. (Echinosaura keyi, new combination). Torres-Carvajal O, Pazmiño-Otamendi G, Salazar-Valenzuela D (2019). "Reptiles of Ecuador: a resource-rich online portal, with dynamic checklists and photographic guides". Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 13 (1) [General Section]: 209–229 (e178). (Echinosaura keyi, p. 213, Table 1). (in English, with an abstract in Spanish).