Ophisops

Ophisops
Ophisops leschenaultii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Iguania
Infraorder:	Scincomorpha
Family:	Lacertidae
Subfamily:	Lacertinae
Genus:	Ophisops Ménétries, 1832[1]
Species
See text.

Unidentified Ophisops species (O. beddomei ?) from Bhimashankar hills, Maharashtra

Ophisops is a genus of wall lizards of the family Lacertidae. They are small lacertids characterized by transparent lower eyelids that are completely or partially fused with the upper lids to form a cap over the eye. Species of the genus Ophisops are distributed in southeast Europe, northeast Africa, to west Asia.^[2]

Species

The following eight species are recognized:^[3]

• Ophisops beddomei (Jerdon, 1870)
• Ophisops elbaensis K.P. Schmidt & Marx, 1957
• Ophisops elegans Ménétries, 1832
• Ophisops jerdonii Blyth, 1853
• Ophisops leschenaultii (Milne-Edwards, 1829)
• Ophisops microlepis Blanford, 1870
• Ophisops minor Deraniyagala, 1971
• Ophisops occidentalis Boulenger, 1887

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Ophisops.

Notes

1. Dahms Tierleben www.dahmstierleben.de
2. Minton SA Jr. 1966. A contribution to the herpetology of West Pakistan. Bull. American Mus. Nat. Hist. 134 (2): 29-184.
3. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.

Further reading

• Boulenger GA. 1887. Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III. Lacertidæ, ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 575 pp. + Plates I-XL. (Genus "Ophiops [sic]", p. 72).
• Ménétries É. 1832. Catalogue raisonné des objets de zoologie recueillis dans un voyage au Caucase et jusqu'aux frontières actuelles de la Perse. Saint Petersburg: Russian Academy of Sciences. 330 pp. (Ophisops, new genus, p. 63). (in French).