Trachylepis margaritifera

"Rainbow Skink" redirects here. In Australia, this common name refers to Lampropholis delicata.
Rainbow Mabuya
Trachylepis margaritifera at the Prague Zoo
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Trachylepis
Species: T. margaritifera
Binomial name
Trachylepis margaritifera
(Peters, 1854)

The Rainbow Mabuya , Rainbow Skink or Blue-tailed Skink due to the blue tail, Trachylepis margaritifera is a species of Afro-Malagasy mabuya or skink in the subfamily Lygosominae.

Taxonomy

Mabuya quinquetaeniata margaritifera, formerly a subspecies of Trachylepis quinquetaeniata (the Five-lined Mabuya, also known as the Rainbow Skink), was elevated to full species in 1998 and named Trachylepis margaritifera.

Synonyms

Description

Trachylepis margaritifera at the Prague Zoo

Trachylepis margaritifera is a medium sized lizard reaching a length of about 20 centimetres (7.9 in). The coloration of this species is quite variable, depending on the gender and the age. The scales are glossy, with metallic reflections. The basic colour is usually olive-brown or dark brown, sometimes with pearly whitish spots and with three light yellow-orange longitudinal stripes running from the head to the electric blue tail. These stripes may fade and become indistinct in the adults.

The head shows a pointed snout and clearly visible ears holes. Just behind the ear opening, there are some black spots. Legs are dark brown, short and strong, with relatively long toes. The flanks are mainly yellowish and the underside of the body is whitish.

Distribution

It is found in southern Africa, from KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa to southern Malawi; isolated populations occur in central to southeastern Tanzania and southern Kenya. [1][2]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, August 19, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.