Biology:Trachylepis

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Short description: Genus of lizards

Trachylepis
Trachylepis striata edit.jpg
Trachylepis striata
Trachylepis maculilabris mating.jpg
Trachylepis maculilabris mating
Scientific classification e
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Subfamily: Mabuyinae
Genus: Trachylepis
Fitzinger, 1843
Species

About 80, see text

Trachylepis striata, African striped skink, Kruger Park
Trachylepis albilabris, Gabon

Trachylepis is a skink genus in the subfamily Mabuyinae found mainly in Africa. Its members were formerly included in the "wastebin taxon" Mabuya, and for some time in Euprepis. As defined today, Trachylepis contains the clade of Afro-Malagasy mabuyas. The genus also contains a species from the Brazil ian island of Fernando de Noronha, T. atlantica, and may occur in mainland South America with Trachylepis tschudii and Trachylepis maculata, both poorly known and enigmatic.[1] The ancestors of T. atlantica are believed to have rafted across the Atlantic from Africa during the last 9 million years.[2]

The generic name Trachylepis literally means "rough-scaled", referring to the fact that most of the species, though superficially smooth-scaled, have three or more slight longitudinal keels on their dorsal scales.[3]

Species

The following species are recognized as being valid (listed alphabetically by specific name).[4][5]

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Trachylepis.

References

  1. Miralles A, Chaparro JC, Harvey MB (2009). "Three rare and enigmatic South American skinks". Zootaxa 2012: 47–68.
  2. Carranza (2003). "Investigating the origin of transoceanic distributions: mtDNA shows Mabuya lizards (Reptilia, Scincidae) crossed the Atlantic twice". Systematics and Biodiversity 1 (2): 275–282. doi:10.1017/S1477200003001099. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=168963. Retrieved 2008-04-04. 
  3. Jaeger, Edmund Carroll (1959). A Source-Book of Biological Names and Terms. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 360 pp.. ISBN 0-398-06179-3. https://archive.org/details/sourcebookofbiol0000jaeg. 
  4. Trachylepis. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  5. Koppetsch, Thore (2020-10-05). "A new species of Trachylepis (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Amhara Region, Ethiopia, and a key to the Ethiopian Trachylepis". Zootaxa 4859 (1): 113–126. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4859.1.4. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 33056207. https://www.biotaxa.org/Zootaxa/article/view/zootaxa.4859.1.4. 
  6. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN:978-1-4214-0135-5. (Mabuya gravenhorstii, p. 106).

Further reading

  • Fitzinger L (1843). Systema Reptilium, Fasciculus Primus, Amblyglossae. Vienna: Braumüller & Seidel. 106 pp. + indices. (Trachylepis, new genus, p. 22). (in Latin).

Wikidata ☰ Q1755407 entry