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he is widely regarded as the authority on tegus, more so than the st. pierres IMO.

run your theory by him, you stand to gain a lot.

www.agamainternational.com/merianae.shtml

My blue:

If I recall correctly from my last communication with Bert, that he is probably still in Europe, but it's possible he still checks his email.

Rick
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I think the information concerning the origins of the 'blue' tegu is ver interesting, though maybe not to everyone. Most people will not care what the latin name is as long as it's blue.

Common names can indeed be inconsistant, but they has always been part of the pet trade and will probably always be even though they can occassionally become confusing.

As far as the St. Pierres, they have lovely, health tegus. Well worth looking into if you are looking for a 'blue' or 'albino' tegu. If you are looking for a pet, then the latin name confusion is not going to matter too much beyond those who have interest in it.

As far as Bert, I respect Bert and he has been doing Tegus for longer then most of us are old; and has been doing reptile related work before that. I don't think I have ever seen Bert make a written statement claiming 'blues' were either or.

As far as this "THE BEST tegu researcher in the world" ,(I used your phrase because I don't know his name) who is world renowned, he is renowned within the science community because that is where his papers are published. If he did indeed post articles in 'public' reptile mags, then more of the reptile hobbiests would know him. (This is merely my opinion).

I am indeed interested in the knowledge available from this discussion, but at the point we are at we do not need to focus on the St. Pierres who originally informed us that the blues were Tupinambis teguixin ssp., or Bert, who has nothing to do with the whole 'blues' discussion, or even the person you mentioned prior (the renowned guy). The point is, can we find out between ourselves if the blue tegu fits exactly within the T.merianae classification. The double loreals (on each side) is indeed a trait from the T.merianae, but also from other tegus (T.duseni and T.rufescens). So the fact, scientifically would remain, that we need to keep checking other aspects of the blues to be sure each trait is checked and accounted for. Otherwise, it's possible that (just something to add to make the whole 'blue soup' discussion more confusing) the blue tegu is a seperate, unrelated or perhaps combined(hybrid) between two or more types of tegu species, a completely unclassified tegu.

Yes, I know, I just made the whole thread even more confusing.

Rick
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For your information, I have sent an email to Bert.
What am I trying to do with this discussion? Simple. Get down to the details. To me, to many others, the claim of "Blues" being declared as a new species or as a subspecies of T.teguixin is simply inaccurate.
Do I want people to stop calling them "Blues"? No. Go ahead and call them whatever you want for nicknames. Do I think people shouldn't have them as pets? No. They're wonderful animals. What I want is that they be correctly identified. That's all.
As you yourself have stated, however, I'm curious as to why you would want me to publish a paper you refuse to read? Seems an immense waste of time and effort on my half.
Frankly, however, if you take an unbiased look at all the activity that this debate has stirred up, it is clearly not I the researcher that wants people to know what I am researching, it clearly stands out that the hobbyist is asking for this information and asking me what I know. The only thing I have tried forcing on anyone here is an awareness for how to correctly identify their tegu's species.
However, and I think you'll find people like Rick and several others will agree, it becomes very difficult for these two communities, researchers and hobbyists, to openly communicate without common ground of language. When there are a handful of common names being used for a single species, or as I'm arguing in the case of the "blues" that people are claiming several species names for something encompassed by a single common name, it creates unnecessary conflict (am I right, Rick?). The only true, undebateable classification that can be the bridge between these two groups is the scientific name. And if it can't be agreed upon, then there is confusing exchanges of ideas and information.
All I'm trying to do is eliminate this confusion. Strangely, you seem reluctant to find out what a "blue" actually is. May I ask you what it is you have against finding out what species the "blue" truly belong to? Is this endeavor threatening to your existence? I sense a hostility from you that I don't understand.

I would like to say that at first Rick and I started off on the wrong footing, things between us were getting heated, but it was in my opinion created by the confusion of our mismatched language. I've enjoyed discussions with this man, and now that we've cleared up our confusions, I think there's a mutual respect between us and we're seeing a little more eye to eye. And we now wish to see the same goal - "blues" correctly identified. I can now see he's open-minded, and I think he realizes I'm open-minded as well as long as the claims are backed by fact. So please, outline for the rest of us what it is you see as so vulgar in this task of finding out what a "blue" actually is? I may be wrong, but from what I see, a lot of people on this forum are getting excited about this and seem to welcome the facts to help correctly identify their pets. Please all, sign in and tell me if I'm wrong.

seeing as to the amazing KS mods have already deleted my previous post this probably won't last long. i could care less if blues are a seperate species or not. it does't affect me or my tegu. i have nothing to gain/lose. there's no hostility on my part, i just get the sense that you're on a witchhunt here. i'm not refusing to read any paper, if fact, i would love to read a paper about the subject. Regardless, whatever taxonomy mistake may have been made, it won't become common knowledge unless it is published in a hobbyist magazine like the previously esteemed "reptiles". also, seeing as to how you've ignored my posts asking for your name and qualifications, such as what degrees you hold and with whom you are conduction research in Brazil i'm very reluctant to believe anything that you say. and as yet, we have yet to hear a retort from the st. pierre's or bert, both of whom i know ARE QUALIFIED in the field.