| The gemís Diplolaemus Bell, 1843 is a common squamate component of the Patagonian región of South América. Considerable taxonomic confusión exists within this gemís, particularly about the status of Chilean-Andean populations and the actual distribution of D. leopardinas (Werner, 1898). In an attempt to clarify the taxonomic status and distribution of Diplolaemus species, we performed a principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA) using both standard morphometric and meristic data. Multivariate summaries of morphometric data show that most species are poorly discriminated, with the exception of D. darwinii. In contrast, a PCA analyses performed on the meristic data clearly distinguish three discrete groups: 1. D. darwinii, 2.... |
