Cryptoblepharus
Cryptoblepharus | |
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Cryptoblepharus poecilopleurus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Family: | Scincidae |
Subfamily: | Eugongylinae |
Genus: | Cryptoblepharus Wiegmann, 1834[1] |
Type species | |
Ablepharus poecilipleurus Wiegmann, 1834
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Species | |
see text |
Cryptoblepharus is a
Taxonomy
The genus Cryptoblepharus was established in 1834 by the zoologist Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann. The type species of the genus was not nominated by the author, but this was assigned to Ablepharus poecilipleurus Wiegmann, 1834 in a revision by Leonhard Stejneger published in 1899.[2][3] An emendation to the name as Cryptoblepharis by
They occupy a fairly
Cryptoblepharus species, some of which are often seen in urban environments, are commonly named as fence skinks, or by characteristics such as their lack of eyelids, snake-eyed skinks,[6] or as shining-skinks for their glossy skins.
Description
Member species of the genus Cryptoblepharus are small-bodied, lack eyelids, are pentadactyl, and have shiny scales. They are able to move rapidly and with great agility, snatching insects from the air and climbing vertical surfaces with ease. They are often observed basking in the sun and disappearing into a hole or crevice in response to a perceived threat. Females may share a site to deposit their eggs, the species returning annually to lay a small clutch.[6]
There are a large number of species, with a distribution range across many continents; they are the most widespread genus of the
All species are oviparous, each female laying several eggs, and sexes are strongly dimorphic, the female distinguished by larger overall size with proportionally shorter head and legs. Detailed aspects of the reproduction activity are poorly known, especially the secretive manner in which the female places the eggs. Several sites of Cryptoblepharus species have been located, the include within the inner chambers of
Feeding is probably opportunistic, any arthropod that is small enough to consume, which is known to include spiders, ants and termites. Trails of winged ants have been observed as feeding opportunities, and some species are recorded seizing dead insects being carried by a line of worker ants. Juvenile fish are also known to be eaten.
These skinks are a source of food to a number of predators, but which species are able to capture them is also poorly surveyed. An individual has been observed as prey to a centipede, albeit when both were trapped (
A revision of Australasian species, published in two papers in 2007, compared morphological and molecular phylogenies and concluded that there was unrecognised diversity within the genus.[8] The author, Paul Horner of the Northern Territory Museum, published revised systematics that sampled widely distributed populations in the Australian region, with small samples of taxa from other regions, to identify twenty five taxa in Australia, another thirteen in the southwest of the Indian oceanic area, and a further twenty four in the Indo-Pacific, listing 62 taxonomic descriptions of the genus in total.[7]
Species
A list of recognised species includes the following 53 species.[9]
- Cryptoblepharus adamsi Horner, 2007 – Adams's snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus africanus (Sternfeld, 1918) – East African snake-eyed skink, African coral rag skink
- Cryptoblepharus ahli Mertens, 1928 – Ahl's snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus aldabrae (Sternfeld, 1918)
- Cryptoblepharus ater (Boettger, 1913) – black snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus australis (Sternfeld, 1918) – inland snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus balinensis Barbour, 1911
- Cryptoblepharus bitaeniatus (Boettger, 1913)
- Desjardins, 1831) – Bouton's skink, Bouton's snake-eyed skink, snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus buchananii (Gray, 1838) – Buchanan's snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus burdeni Dunn, 1927
- Cryptoblepharus caudatus (Sternfeld, 1918)
- Cryptoblepharus cognatus (Boettger, 1913) – Nossy Be snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus cursor Barbour, 1911
- Cryptoblepharus cygnatus Horner, 2007 – Swanson's snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus daedalos Horner, 2007 – dappled snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus egeriae (Boulenger, 1888) – Christmas Island blue-tailed shining-skink, blue-tailed skink, Christmas Island blue-tailed skink
- Cryptoblepharus eximius Girard, 1857
- Cryptoblepharus exochus Horner, 2007 – noble snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus fuhni Covacevich & Ingram, 1978 – black-boulder shinning-skink
- Cryptoblepharus furvus Horner, 2007
- Stejneger, 1893) – Glorioso snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus gurrmul Horner, 2007 – Arafura snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus juno Horner, 2007 – Juno's snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus keiensis (Roux, 1910)
- Cocteau, 1832)
- Cryptoblepharus litoralis (Mertens, 1958) – coastal snake-eyed skink, supralittoral shinning-skink
- Cryptoblepharus megastictus Storr, 1976 – blotched shinning-skink
- Cryptoblepharus mertensi Horner, 2007 – Mertens's snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus metallicus (Boulenger, 1887) – metallic snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus nigropunctatus (Hallowell, 1861)
- Cryptoblepharus novaeguineae Mertens, 1928 – New Guinea snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus novocaledonicus (Mertens, 1928) – New Caledonian shore skink
- Cryptoblepharus novohebridicus (Mertens, 1928)
- Cryptoblepharus ochrus Horner, 2007 – pale snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus pannosus Horner, 2007 – ragged snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus plagiocephalus (Cocteau, 1836) – Péron's snake-eyed skink, callose-palmed shinning-skink
- Cryptoblepharus poecilopleurus (Wiegmann, 1836) – mottled snake-eyed skink, Oceania snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus pulcher (Sternfeld, 1918) – elegant snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus quinquetaeniatus (Günther, 1874) – five-lined snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus renschi Mertens, 1928
- Cryptoblepharus richardsi Horner, 2007
- Cryptoblepharus ruber Börner & Schüttler, 1981 – tawny snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus rutilus (W. Peters, 1879)
- Cryptoblepharus schlegelianus Mertens, 1928 – Schlegel's snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus tytthos Horner, 2007 – pygmy snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus ustulatus Horner, 2007 – russet snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus virgatus (Garman, 1901) – cream-striped shinning-skink, wall skink
- Cryptoblepharus voeltzkowi (Sternfeld, 1918) – Voeltzkow's snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus wulbu Horner, 2007 – spangled snake-eyed skink
- Cryptoblepharus xenikos Horner, 2007
- Cryptoblepharus yulensis Horner, 2007
- Cryptoblepharus zoticus Horner, 2007 – agile snake-eyed skink
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Cryptoblepharus.
References
- ^ "Cryptoblepharus Wiegmann, 1834". Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- .
- ^ a b "Genus Cryptoblepharus Wiegmann, 1834". Australian Faunal Directory. Department of the Environment and Energy. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
- Cocteau JT (1836). Études sur les Scincoïdes. Paris: Imprimerie de Terzuolo. p. 8. (in French).
- PMID 16473026.
- ^ ISBN 9781920694746.
- ^ a b c d e Horner P, Adams M (2007). "A molecular systematic assessment of species boundaries in Australian Cryptoblepharus (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) – a case study for the combined use of allozymes and morphology to explore cryptic biodiversity". The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory. Supplement 3: 1–19.
- ^ Horner P (2007). "Systematics of the snake-eyed skinks, Cryptoblepharus Wiegmann (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) – an Australian-based review". The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory. Supplement 3: 21–198.
- ^ Cryptoblepharus at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database
Further reading
- Wiegmann AFA (1834). "Beiträge zur Zoologie, gesammelt auf einer Reise um die Erde, von Dr. F. J. F. Meyen, siebente Abhandlung. Amphibien ". Nova Acta Physico-Medica Academiae Caesareae Leopoldino-Carolinae 17: 185–268 + 10 color lithographs. (Cryptoblepharus, new genus, p. 203). (in German).