Cophoscincopus durus (COPE, 1862)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Cophoscincopus durus?
Cophoscincopus durus
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Keeled Water Skink |
| Synonym | Tiliqua dura COPE 1862: 190 Lygosoma durum — BOULENGER 1887: 304 Cophoscincopus durus — MERTENS 1934: 190 (nom. nov.) Cophoscincopus durus — LOVERIDGE 1941: 117 Cophoscincopus durus — GREER 1974: 29 Cophoscincopus durus — BÖHME, SCHMITZ & ZIEGLER 2000 Cophoscincopus durus — TRAPE, CHIRIO & TRAPE 2012 |
| Distribution | Liberia, Sierra Leone, S Guinea (Conakry), Ivory Coast Type locality: Western Africa. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: USNM 5996 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus): Small (snout-vent length 52 mm or less), semi-aquatic African beta skinks with movable lower eyelids, 2 supraoculars in contact with frontal, and very heavy keeling on the body scales; clutch size constant, 2. Lower eyelid scaly and supranasals lacking, although frontonasal may be divided longitudinally to give impression of 2 large supranasals meeting medially (Greer 1974: 31). Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 2112 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonymy: Cophoscincus simulans VAILLANT 1884 has been removed from the synonymy of C. durus by BÖHME et al. (2000). Distribution: not in Ghana fide Trape et al. 2012. See map in Böhme et al. 2000: 790 (Fig. 6). Type Species: Tiliqua dura is the type species of the genus Cophoscincopus MERTENS 1934 (a replacement name for Cophoscincus VAILLANT 1884 fide GREER 1974). Originally, Cophoscincus simulans VAILLANT 1884 was the type species of the genus Cophoscincus VAILLANT 1884. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. Key to species: Böhme et al. 2000: 787 |
| Etymology | Named after Latin durus, hard (to the touch). ["…Body stout…"]. The genus was named after the genus Cophoscincus (which is pre-occupied by Cophoscincus Peters 1867), hence Mertens 1934 renamed it Cophoscincopus. Although Mertens provided no explanation of the name, the genus was apparently named after Greek kophos (κωφός), blunt, dull, obtuse + Greek skinkos (σκίγκος), skink + Greek pous (πούς), foot. |
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