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Trachylepis megalura (PETERS, 1878)

IUCN Red List - Trachylepis megalura - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Mabuyinae (Mabuyini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Grass Skink, Grass-top skink, Long-tailed Skink
G: Langschwanzskink 
SynonymEuprepes (Mabuia) megalurus PETERS 1878: 203
Eumeces massaianus FISCHER 1884: 18
Mabuia megalura — TORNIER 1897: 43
Mabuia megalura — NEUMANN 1905
Mabuia megalura — SCORTECCI 1931: 11
Mabuia massaiana — WITTE 1933
Mabuya megalura — LOVERIDGE 1936: 68
Mabuya megalura — GREER et al. 2000
Mabuya megalura — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 15
Mabuya megalura — BAUER et al. 1995: 62
Euprepis megalurus — MAUSFELD et al. 2002
Trachylepis megalura — BAUER 2003
Euprepis megalura — LANTERMANN & LANTERMANN 2009
Mabuya megalura — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 395
Trachylepis megalura — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 143
Trachylepis cf. megalura — MARQUES et al. 2018 
DistributionEthiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique (limit just south of Zambezi River), Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, E/S Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire), probably in Republic of South Sudan (RSS) (L. Chirio, pers. comm.), Zambia, elevation up to 3000 m.

Type locality: “Taita”, Kenya.  
Reproductionviviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesSyntypes: ZMB 9281, 9304
Holotype: ZMH R02837 [Eumeces massaianus] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy: Earlier authors considered Trachylepis megalura (Neumann 1905; Meek 1910; Loveridge 1920, 1936) and T. massaiana (de Witte 1933) as valid taxa. De Witte (1933) suggested that the length of the tail (more than two times the snout-vent length in T. megalura and less than that in T. massaiana) was a sufficient character to distinguish the two, but later he synonymized T. massaiana with T. megalura (de Witte 1953), an opinion subsequently followed unanimously by authors dealing with these animals (e.g., Broadley & Howell 1991; Broadley 2000; Broadley & Cotterill 2004; Lantermann & Lantermann 2008; Spawls et al. 2004, 2006, 2018).

Distribution: for records from Ethiopia see map in Koppetsch 2020: 118 (Fig. 2). Not in Angola fide Ceriaco et al. 2024 (revision Angolan Trachylepis). 
EtymologyFrom the Greek megas (large) and Greek and oura = tail, for the relatively long tail. 
References
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  • Bates, Michael F. 2018. Catalogue of reptiles from Mozambique in the collection of the National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Indago 34 (2): 135–147
  • Behangana, M.; C. Aluziyo, D dendi, L. Luiselli, D. F. Hughes, E. Greenbaum 2019. HERPETOFAUNAL DIVERSITY AND COMMUNITY STRUCTURE AT LAKE NABUGABO AND SURROUNDING RAMSAR AREA WETLANDS IN SOUTHERN UGANDA. Vie et milieu - life and environment 69 (2-3): 1-N - get paper here
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  • Broadley, D.G. 1998. The reptilian fauna of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa). In: Schmidt, K.P. and Noble, G.K., Contributions to the Herpetology of the Belgian Congo... [reprint of the 1919 and 1923 papers]. SSAR Facsimile reprints in Herpetology, 780 pp.
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  • Chirio, L. & I. INEICH 2001. Description d'un nouveau scincidé endémique des montagnes du Cameroun (Lacertilia: Mabuya mekuana). Bull. Soc. zool. Fr., 125(3): 185-196 [2000, see Fretey 2023]
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  • Koppetsch T. 2020. A new species of Trachylepis (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Amhara Region, Ethiopia, and a key to the Ethiopian Trachylepis. . doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.4859.1.4. PMID: 33056207 Zootaxa 4859 (1): 113-126 - get paper here
  • Lantermann, W. & Lantermann, Y. 2009. Herpetologische Reiseeindrücke aus den Ost-Usambara-Bergen in Tanzania. Elaphe 17 (2): 53-61
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  • MARQUES, MARIANA P.; LUIS M. P. CERÍACO, SUZANA BANDEIRA, OLIVIER S. G. PAUWELS, AARON M. BAUER 2019. Description of a new long-tailed skink (Scincidae: Trachylepis) from Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zootaxa 4568 (1): 051–068 - get paper here
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  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
 
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