Ablepharus budaki

Ablepharus budaki
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Scincidae
Genus:	Ablepharus
Species:	A. budaki
Binomial name
Ablepharus budaki Göçmen, Kumlutas & Tosunoglu, 1996

Ablepharus budaki, commonly known as Budak's snake-eyed skink, is a species of skink endemic to the Near East.

Taxonomy

Ablepharus budaki is a scincine saurian vertebrate. In 1997, it was promoted from its status as a subspecies of Ablepharus kitaibelii to full species status.

Etymology

The specific name, budaki, is in honor of Turkish herpetologist Abidin Budak.^[2]

Geographic range

A. budaki occurs in southern Turkey, western Syria, Cyprus, and Lebanon.

Habitat

It is found in leaf litter of shrubby or forested areas.

Conservation status

It is common and has no major threats in most of its range, though in Lebanon it may face a threat from deforestation.

References

1. Lymberakis P, Crochet P-A, Tok V, Ugurtas I, Sevinç M, Hraoui-Bloquet S, Sadek R. (2006). Ablepharus budaki. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 18 February 2009.
2. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Ablepharus budaki, p. 42).

Further reading

• Göçmen B, Kumlutas Y, Tosunoglu M. 1996. A new subspecies, Ablepharus kitaibelii (Bibron & Borry, 1833) budaki n. ssp. (Sauria: Scincidae) from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Turkish Journal of Zoology 20: 397–405.
• Poulakakis N, Lymberakis P, Tsigenopoulos CS, Magoulas A, Mylonas M. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary history of snake-eyed skink Ablepharus kitaibelii (Sauria: Scincidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 34: 245–256.
• Schmidtler JF. 1997. "Die Ablepharus kitaibelii - Gruppe in Süd-Anatolien und benachbarten Gebieten (Squamata: Sauria: Scinidae)". Herpetozoa 10 (1/2): 35-63.