Chalcides polylepis BOULENGER, 1890

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Higher Taxa	Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Many-scaled Cylindrical Skink, Multiscaled Skink G: Vielschuppiger Walzenskink, Marokko-Walzenskink
Synonym	Chalcides ocellatus var. polylepis BOULENGER 1890: 445 Chalcides ocellatus polylepis forma guttolineata WERNER 1931 Chalcides ocellatus polylepis — HEDIGER 1935 Chalcides polylepis — LANZA 1957 Chalcides ocellatus forme polylepis — BONS 1959 Chalcides polylepis — SCHLEICH, KÄSTLE & KABISCH 1996: 345 Chalcides polylepis — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008
Distribution	Morocco; Canary Islands (Fuerteventura), Western Sahara Type locality: Morocco, Morocco city, Casablanca.
Reproduction	ovovivparous
Types	Syntypes: BMNH 89.12.16.79-86, presented by J.G. Fischer; 90.1.25.7-10, Casablanca, Morocco, presented by SMF Holotype: MCZ 31462 [guttolineata]
Diagnosis
Comment	Synonymy: partly fide TIEDEMANN 1994. Chalcides simonyi was originally classified as Ch. polylepis occidentalis (LANZA 1957) but is now considered as a valid species by several authors (BROWN & PERSTANO 1998) based on molecular data.
Etymology	From Greek “polys” = many, “lepis” = scale; in comparison with Chalcides ocellatus it has more scales around midtrunk.
References	Bischoff, W. 1985. Die Herpetofauna der Kanarischen Inseln. III. Die Skinke der Gattung Chalcides. Herpetofauna 7 (36): 13-21 - get paper here Bons, J. 1959. Les lacertiliens du sud-ouest Marocain; systematique, repartition geographique, ethologie, ecologie. Instit. Sci. Cherifien, Rabat, Trav. (Ser. Zool.) no. 18 130 pp. Boulenger, G.A. 1890. On the varieties of Chalcides ocellatus, Forsk. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 5: 444-445 - get paper here Boulenger, George A. 1891. Catalogue of the reptiles and batrachians of Barbary (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia), based chiefly upon the notes and collections made in 1880-1884 by M. Fernand Lataste. Tr. Zool. Soc. 13: 93-164 BROWN, R.P. and J. PESTANO 1998. Phylogeography of skinks (Chalcides) in the Canary Islands inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Ecology 7: 1183-1191 - get paper here Caputo, Vincenzo;Sorice, Marina;Crescimbent, Laura 1999. A molecular taxonomy of some Mediterranean Scincid lizards, Genus Chalcides Laurenti 1768 (Reptilia, Scincidae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 6 (1): 23-32 - get paper here Carranza, S.; E.N. Arnold, Ph. Geniez, J. Roca and J.A. Mateo 2008. Radiation, multiple dispersal and parallelism in the skinks, Chalcides and Sphenops (Squamata: Scincidae), with comments on Scincus and Scincopus and the age of the Sahara Desert. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46 (3): 1071-1094 - get paper here Elbahi A, Lawton C, Oubrou W, El Bekkay M, Hermas J, Dugon M 2022. Reptile biodiversity in Souss-Massa National Park: an internationally important hotspot in the Mediterranean region. Biodiversity Data Journal 10: e79088 - get paper here Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248 Geniez, P.; Mateo, J.A.; Geniez, M. & Pether, J. 2004. The amphibians and reptiles of the Western Sahara (former Spanish Sahara) and adjacent regions. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 228 pp. [reviewed in Reptilia GB 44: 81] Hediger, H. 1935. Herpetologische Beobachtungen in Marokko. Verhandlungen der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Basel 46: 1-49 Lanza,B. 1957. Su alcuni "Chalcides" del Marocco (Reptilia: Scincidae). Monit. Zool. Italiano 65: 85-98 Martínez del Mármol, Gabriel; D. James Harris, Philippe Geniez, Philip de Pous, and Daniele Salvi 2019. Amphibians and Reptiles of Morocco. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 478 pp - get paper here Mediani, Mohamed; José Carlos Brito, Soumia Fahd 2015. Atlas of the amphibians and reptiles of northern Morocco: updated distribution and patterns of habitat selection. Basic and Applied Herpetology 29: - get paper here MOUHAJIR, Kaoutar; FEKHAOUI Mohammed ; BENHOUSSA Abdelaziz; TAMADOUNI Iradati, MATAAME Abderrahmane 2019. Study of Reptilian Species Inventoried In Two Moroccan Atlantic Lagoons: Oualidia and MerjaZerga. Journal of Applied Biological Sciences 13 (2): 31-35 Rogner, Manfred 1997. Die Chalcides-Arten der Kanarischen Inseln. DATZ 50 (1): 116-119 Schleich, H.H., Kästle,W., Kabisch, K. 1996. Amphibians and Reptiles of North Africa. Koeltz, Koenigstein, 627 pp. Sindaco, R. & Jeremcenko, V.K. 2008. The reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 579 pp. - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.chalcides.de/Alle_Arten.html http://linnaeus.nrm.se/zool/herp/madserp.html.en (as Coluber/Boa) Google images

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