Ristella

Taxobox
name = "Ristella"

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image_caption ="Ristella travancorica" from the Western Ghats
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Reptilia
ordo = Squamata
familia = Scincidae
genus = "Ristella"

Ristella is a genus of skinks found in southern India.

Description of the genus from G. A. Boulenger's Fauna of British India Amphibia and batrachia volume.

Palatine and pterygoid bones in contact on the median line of the palate, which is toothless;palatine notch small, far behind , corresponding to the posterior notch of the tongue. Teeth conical. Eyelids well developed, scaly. Ear-opening distinct. Nostril pierced in a single nasal; no supranasals; prefrontals small or coalesced; frontoparietals and interparietal distinct. Limbs well developed, anterior with 4, posterior with 5 digits; claws completely retractile into a large compressed sheath formed of one large scale cleft beneath. Found in the hill-tracts of southern India.

Key to species

*A. A pair of small prefrontals; frontonasal forming a suture with frontal
**a. Ear-opening much larger than nostril; dorsal scales feebly bi- or tricarinate
***"R. rurkii"
*B. Two azygous shields between rostral and frontal
**a. 22 to 24 scales round middle of body; adpressed limbs not meeting
***"R. guentheri"
**b 26 scales round body; adpressed limbs meeting or overlapping
***"R. beddomii"

Classification

Genus Ristella
*"Ristella beddomii"
*"Ristella guentheri"
*"Ristella rurkii"
*"Ristella travancorica"