- Lygosoma punctata
Taxobox | name = "Lygosoma punctata"
regnum =Animal ia
phylum =Chordata
classis =Reptilia
ordo =Squamata
subordo =Sauria
familia =Scincidae
genus = "Lygosoma "
species = "L. punctata"
binomial = "Lygosoma punctata"
binomial_authority = (Gmelin, 1799)
synonyms = "Riopa punctata""Lygosoma punctata" is a species of
skink found inIndia andSri Lanka .Description
Young skinks of this species have a distinctive red tail, but this colour is lost in adults. The red tail is replaced by small spots and these spots coalesce to form continuous lines as the individual ages. The dots are present on the head and extends to the snout.
Distance between the end of snout and the fore-limb about 2 to 2/3 of the distance between axilla and groin; the snout is obtuse; lower eyelid has an undivided semitransparent disc; supranasals entire and are in contact with one another behind the rostral ; frontal longer than the frontoparietals and interparietal together; a pair of nuchals, rarely absent ; an enlarged temporal scale borders the outer margin of the parietal ; ear-opening about half as large as the eye-opening, with one or two minute lobules anteriorly ; 7 supralabials. the fifth below the middle of the eye, longer than the adjacent labials body covered with smooth subequa] scales, 24 or 20, rarely 28, round the body ; 62 to 76 down the middle of the hack ; marginal preanals slightly enlarged. The adpressed limbs fail to meet by nearly twice the length of the fore-limb ; digits long, fourth toe distinctly longer than the third; 11 to 14 keeled lamellae under the fourth toe. Tail thick at the base, a little longer than the head and body. Brown above and on the side. Each scale with a dark basal spot. In the young the spots are joined into 4 or 6 longitudinal lines down the back. A yellowish dorsolateral streak beginning on the "canthus rostralis" strongly marked in the young. Lower surfaces yellowish-white, uniform, or each scale with a black central dot; tail reddish in the young.Smith, M. A. 1941. Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Batrachia.]
Distribution
Found in India and Sri Lanka mostly in hilly regions such as the Yelagiris, Nilgiris, Sivagiris, Shevaroy Hills, Nilambur, Madurai, Cuddapah, Salem, Belgaum, Godavari districs. Chaibassa, Bilaspur, Rewa, Allahabad, Hazara, Meerut, Subathu (Simla).
Notes
References
* Boulenger, George A. 1890 The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp.
* Taylor, Edward H. 1950 Ceylonese lizards of the family Scincidae. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 33 (2): 481-518External links
* http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Riopa_punctata.jpg
* http://itgmv1.fzk.de/www/itg/uetz/herp/photos/Riopa_punctata2.jpg
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