Eurylepis taeniolatus

Alpine punjab skink
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Sauria
Family:	Scincidae
Genus:	Eurylepis
Species:	E. taeniolatus
Binomial name
*Eurylepis taeniolatus* Blyth, 1854

Eurylepis taeniolatus, the alpine Punjab skink, is a species of skink found in Central Asia and West Asia.

Description

Eurylepis taeniolatus Blyth 1854 is the type species of the genus Eurylepis. Diagnosis of the genus Eurylepis (Griffith et al. 2000): Elongate, 35 or more presacral vertebrae (convergent with many other scincid groups). Limbs relatively slender, lamellae not expanded. Head somewhat conical, dorsal surface convex in lateral view, parietal bone with clear lateral indentations and supratemporal fontanelle open. Sexual dimorphism in head proportions not distinct. Scales shiny, separated by shallow sutures. Two loreals, followed by two presuboculars. Post-nasal scales present. Palpebral scales and superciliaries not separated by groove. Four or five pairs of nuchal scales, followed by several pairs of broadened mid-dorsal scales and broad row of fused mid-dorsal scales. Large medial preanal scales overlie small lateral pair. Ear lobules conspicuous, but not covering ear opening. Color pattern consists of gray-brown background, with pale, broad dorsolateral stripes, more distinct anteriorly, brown rectangular spots dominating posteriorly. Northern extent of range poorly known; southern portion of distribution includes Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern India.

Distribution

NW/W Saudi Arabia, S Yemen, NE Iran, Iraq;Afghanistan, Pakistan, (Kashmir);S Turkmenistan

Race arabicus: Arabia
Race parthianicus: Turkmen-Khorassan (former USSR) area

Type locality: Punjab, India

References

Blyth, E. 1854 J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal 23: 470
Griffith, H., A. Ngo & R. W. Murphy 2000 A cladistic evaluation of the cosmopolitan genus Eumeces Wiegmann (Reptilia, Squamata, Scincidae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 7 (1): 1-16
Schmitz, Andreas; Patrick Mausfeld and Dirk Embert 2004 Molecular studies on the genus Eumeces Wiegmann, 1834: phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic implications. Hamadryad 28 (1-2): 73 - 89
Shcherbak N N. 1990 Systematics And Geographic Variability Of Eumeces-Taeniolatus Sauria Scincidae [In Russian]. Vestnik Zoologii. 1990. no. 3, pp. 33-40.
Taylor, E. H. 1936 A taxonomic study of the cosmopolitan lizards of the genus Eumeces with an account of the distribution and relationship of its species. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 23 (14): 1-643 [1935]

External links

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