The delusion of stripes: A century-old mystery of five-lined sun skinks (Reptilia: Scincidae: Eutropis) of Peninsular India elucidated

The Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) is an important region of biodiversity in India. Situated in the foothills of the Himalaya, it is spread across India and Nepal. We describe the herpetofauna of the western part of TAL encompassing Ramnagar Forest Division, which falls in Uttarakhand state of India. We primarily used visual encounter survey method for sampling. A total of 47 species of herpetofauna belonging to three orders, 17 families and 36 genera were recorded from 10 habitat types (6 terrestrial and 4 aquatic). Highest species richness (n=32) was recorded from the human settlement and least (n=4) species richness was reported from pond habitat. In this paper, the diversity of amphibians and reptiles in each habitat type is discussed.

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Occurrence patterns of herpetofauna in different habitat types of western Terai Arc Landscape, India

Mehra

Mohanty

Dutta

2022

J. Threat. Taxa

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Systematics and distribution of Lankascincus fallax (Peters, 1860) (Reptilia, Scincidae), an endemic litter-skink from Sri Lanka

KANISHKA,

DANUSHKA,

HALLERMANN

et al. 2024

Zootaxa

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Lankascincus fallax is an endemic, but widespread species of skink distributed throughout Sri Lanka, including all bioclimatic zones (elevations from 0 to 1,200 m a.s.l.). After thoroughly comparing morphology and morphometry between populations in different bioclimatic zones, we recognize it as a single morphospecies. We revise the systematics of Lankascincus fallax based on molecular and morphological data providing a comprehensive re-description of the adult syntype collected from either Ratnapura or Trinkomalee (sic), Sri Lanka. We provide the first-ever constructed phylogeny of Lankascincus representing five species (out of nine) based on GenBank data. In addition, we examined all the type specimens of the two synonymized species, Sphenomorphus rufogulus and Lankascincus deraniyagalae. We also provide a comprehensive discussion on the distribution of L. fallax.

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A non-adaptive radiation of viviparous skinks from the seasonal tropics of India: Systematics of Subdoluseps (Squamata: Scincidae), with description of a new genus and five cryptic new species

Agarwal,

Thackeray,

Khandekar

2024

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Subdoluseps is a recently described genus of Lygosomine skinks distributed in peninsular India and Southeast Asia. We conduct the first revision of Indian Subdoluseps based on range-wide sampling including 89 specimens from 33 localities. We use two mitochondrial and three nuclear markers, 58 morphological characters, and ecological data to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Indian Subdoluseps and assess their diversity and distribution, providing insights into lygosominin biogeography. We formally describe the Indian clade as a new genus, Dravidosepsgen. nov. and name five new species from Tamil Nadu, India in an integrative taxonomic framework – D. gingeeensissp. nov., D. jawadhuensissp. nov., D. kalakadensissp. nov., D. srivilliputhurensissp. nov., and D. tamilnaduensissp. nov.. We transfer Riopa goaensis, Subdoluseps pruthi and S. nilgiriensis to the new genus and designate neotypes for the former two. Members of Dravidosepsgen. nov. are the first known viviparous skinks from peninsular India and the only known viviparous lygosominins apart from a few species of east African Mochlus. The Lygosomini have a Southeast Asian origin and began diversifying in the Eocene with three dispersals between India and Southeast Asia. Species level diversification in Dravidosepsgen. nov. was likely driven by a combination of niche conservatism, paleoclimate and past forest distribution. The discovery of a new genus and five new species reiterates the high levels of diversity and endemism present in peninsular India and how much more remains to be discovered.

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The delusion of stripes: A century-old mystery of five-lined sun skinks (Reptilia: Scincidae: Eutropis) of Peninsular India elucidated

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

Occurrence patterns of herpetofauna in different habitat types of western Terai Arc Landscape, India

Occurrence patterns of herpetofauna in different habitat types of western Terai Arc Landscape, India

Systematics and distribution of Lankascincus fallax (Peters, 1860) (Reptilia, Scincidae), an endemic litter-skink from Sri Lanka

A non-adaptive radiation of viviparous skinks from the seasonal tropics of India: Systematics of Subdoluseps (Squamata: Scincidae), with description of a new genus and five cryptic new species

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