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Pygopus lepidopodus (LACÉPÈDE, 1804)

IUCN Red List - Pygopus lepidopodus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaPygopodidae, Gekkota, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Southern Scaly-foot, Common Scaly Foot (scalyfoot)
G: Schlangenflossenfuß,Gewöhnlicher Flossenfuß 
SynonymBipes lepidopus [sic] LACÉPÈDE 1804
Lacerta lepidopus — SHAW & NODDER 1805: plate 663
Sheltopusik novae-hollandiae OPPEL 1811
Pygopus lepidopodus — MERREM 1820
? Hysteropus novae Hollandiae — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 828
Pygopus squamiceps GRAY 1845
Pygopus longicaudatus TEPPER 1882 (nomen oblitum)
Pygopus lepidopus [sic] — BOULENGER 1885: 240
Pygopus lepidodus [sic] — LUCAS & FROST 1894: 35
Pygopus lepidopodus — KLUGE 1974: 149
Pygopus lepidopodus — KLUGE 1993
Pygopus lepidopodus — RÖSLER 1995: 90
Pygopus lepidopodus — COGGER 2000: 297
Pygopus lepidopodus — WILSON & SWAN 2010 
DistributionAustralia (New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia)

Type locality: Nouvelle-Hollande.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: MNHN-RA 7154 (3114). Designation by Guibé (1954), fide Brygoo (1990). 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS (genus): Pygopus differs from all other pygopodid genera in possessing the following combination of character states: a) dorsal surface of head covered with large and small scales, b) three to five postmental scales, c) 21 or more midbody scale rows, d) dorsal body scales usually keeled, e) nine or more preanal pores (Kluge 1974: 149). 
CommentSynonymy mostly after COGGER 1983 and KLUGE 1993.

Limb morphology: Limbless.

Type species: Bipes lepidopus LACÉPÈDE 1804 is the type species of the genus Pygopus MERREM 1820 which is the type genus of the family Pygopodidae BOULENGER 1884 (originally Pygopidae GRAY 1840). GRAY 1843: 25 used the genus name Pygopi, probably a typo (or plural) for Pygopus. Boulenger's (1884) emended family name Pygopodidae is accepted over Gray's (1841a) original spelling, Pygopidae, because the ending -podidae is the correct latinized term for the Greek podos which is the genitive singular of pous (International Congress of Zoology, 1961:136). The family name Pygopidae is now applied to a terebratulid brachiopod, type genus Pygope Link.

Phylogenetics: see Skipwith et al. 2019 and Amat-Orriols 2023 for a phylogenetic tree of the family.

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Greek lepidos (scale) plus pous (foot) in reference to the flap-like hind limb remnants covered with even imbricate scales. The common name given to this genus is Scaly Foot. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024)

The genus was apparently named after Greek pyge (πυγή) = rump, buttocks, and Greek pous, podos = foot. 
References
  • Amat-Orriols, F. 2023. Strange geckoes in a strange land: did morphological evolution and climatic diversification lead to ecological radiation and speciation in Flap-footed Lizards (Pygopodidae) during the Miocene aridification of Australia? Salamandra 59 (1): 51–62 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. Geckonidae, Eublepharidae, Uroplatidae, Pygopodidae, Agamidae. London: 450 pp. - get paper here
  • Bush, B. 1981. Reptiles of the Kalgoorlie-Esperance Region. B. Bush, Perth, 46 pp - get paper here
  • Bush, B. & Maryan, B. 2006. Snakes and Snake-like Reptiles of Southern Western Australia. Snakes Harmful & Harmless, Stoneville, Perth, Western Australia, 40 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Duméril, A. M. C. and G. Bibron. 1839. Erpétologie Générale on Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Vol. 5. Roret/Fain et Thunot, Paris, 871 pp. - get paper here
  • Friederich, Ursel 1978. Der Pileus der Squamata. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde, Ser. A, Nr. 307: 1-64. - get paper here
  • Glauert, L. 1956. Herpetological Miscellanea VIII Snake Lizards and Worm Lizards (Family Pygopodidae). Western Australian Naturalist 5 (6): - get paper here
  • Gray, J. E. 1845. Catalogue of the specimens of lizards in the collection of the British Museum. Trustees of die British Museum/Edward Newman, London: xxvii + 289 pp. - get paper here
  • Gray, J.E. 1840. The zoological collection. In: Ellis, H. (Ed), Synopsis of the contents of the British Museum. 42nd Edition. G. Woodfall and Son, London, United Kingdom, pp. 18–156 - get paper here
  • Hallermann, J. 2020. An annotated list of reptiles and amphibians from the 1905 Hamburg expedition to southwest Australia deposited in the Zoological Museum Hamburg. Evolutionary Systematics 4: 61 - get paper here
  • Kinghorn, J. Roy 1926. A brief review of the family Pygopodidae. Rec. Austral. Mus. 15 (1): 40-64 - get paper here
  • Kluge, Arnold G. 1976. Phylogenetic relationships in the lizard family Pygopodidae: an evaluation of theory, methods and data. Miscellaneous Publications, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (152): 1-72 - get paper here
  • LaCépède, B. G. E. L. 1804. Mémoire sur plusieurs animaux de la Nouvelle- Hollande dont la description n’a pas encore été publiée. Annales du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 4:184-211 - get paper here
  • Laube, A. & Langner, C. 2007. Die “Geckos” Australiens. Draco 8 (29): 4-21 - get paper here
  • Lethbridge P J. Hawkes T A. 1994. New data on the distribution of Pygopus lepidopodus (Pygopodidae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 37 (1): 120. - get paper here
  • Lucas, A. H. S. & Frost, C. 1894. The lizards indigenous to Victoria. Proc. R. Soc. Vict. (ns) 6: 24-92 - get paper here
  • Maryan, B., Gaikhorst, G., & Parkhurst, B. 2024. The terrestrial herpetofauna of the Zuytdorp coast and hinterland of Western Australia: Exceptional richness in a global biodiversity hotspot. Western Australian Naturalist, 33, 3
  • May, E. 1978. Einige Beobachtungen zum Verhalten von Pygopus lepidopodus (Reptilia: Sauria: Pygopodidae). Salamandra 14 (1): 1-8 - get paper here
  • Merrem, B. 1820. Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien I (Tentamen Systematis Amphibiorum). J. C. Kriegeri, Marburg, 191 pp. - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1971. Unerwartete Bananenfresser unter Reptilien. Salamandra 7 (1): 39-40 - get paper here
  • Murphy, Michael J. 1994. Reptiles and amphibians of Seven Mile Beach National park, NSW. Herpetofauna (Sydney) 24 (2): 24-30
  • Murphy, Michael J. 2016. Survey of the reptiles and amphibians of Yarrigan National Park in the Pilliga forest of northern inland New South Wales. Australian Zoologist 38 (2): 147- - get paper here
  • Oliver, P.M.; Couper, P. & Amey, A. 2010. A new species of Pygopus (Pygopodidae; Gekkota; Squamata) from north-eastern Queensland. Zootaxa 2578: 47–61 - get paper here
  • Oppel, M. 1811. Die Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen der Reptilien, als Prodrom einer Naturgeschichte derselben. J. Lindauer, München. - get paper here
  • Rösler, Herbert 1995. Geckos der Welt - Alle Gattungen. Urania, Leipzig, 256 pp.
  • Shaw,G. & Nodder, Elizabeth (Eds.) 1805. The Naturalist's Miscellany [...], Vol. XVI. London, Nodder & Co., plates 637-684, 176 unnumbered pages, [published in monthly issues be-tween August 1, 1804, and July 1, 1805]
  • Skipwith, P.L., Bi, K., Oliver, P.M. 2019. Relicts and radiations: Phylogenomics of an Australasian lizard clade with east Gondwanan origins (Gekkota: Diplodactyloidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2019), doi: - get paper here
  • Swan, G.; Sadlier, R.; Shea, G. 2017. A field guide to reptiles of New South Wales. Reed New Holland, 328 pp.
  • Swan, Michael G. 1997. The presence of the common scaly foot, Pygopus lepidopodus on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Herpetofauna (Sydney) 27 (2): 53
  • Tepper, J. G. O. 1882. Notes on some South Australian lizards. Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Royal Society of South Australia, 5:32-33 - get paper here
  • Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - get paper here
  • White, A. W. and Shelley Burgin 2004. Current status and future prospects of reptiles and frogs in Sydney’s urban-impacted bushland reserves. In: Urban Wildlife: more than meets the eye, edited by Daniel Lunney and Shelley Burgin. Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Mosman, NSW, pp. 109-123 - get paper here
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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