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Ophioscincus ophioscincus (BOULENGER, 1887)

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Higher TaxaScincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Yolk-bellied Snake-skink 
SynonymOphioscincus australis PETERS 1873 (non Tiliqua australis GRAY 1828, non Lygosoma australis GRAY 1839)
Lygosoma ophioscincus BOULENGER 1887: 343 (nom. nov. pro O. australis)
Anomalopus ophioscincus — COGGER 1983
Ophioscincus ophioscincus — GREER & COGGER 1985: 38
Ophioscincus ophioscincus — COGGER 2000: 556
Ophioscincus ophioscincus — WILSON & SWAN 2010 
DistributionAustralia (Queensland)

Type locality: Port Clinton, Qld. (as Port Bowen) [Ophioscincus australis PETERS 1873].  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: ZMB 8046 [O. australis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Ophioscincus differs from all other members of the Sphenomorphus group in Australia in the following combination of derived character states: nasals slightly enlarged; prefrontals separate; supraoculars 3, only first in contact with frontal; first supraciliary contacts frontal; supralabials 5, third subocular; external ear opening absent, its former position indicated by oblique crease; postsupralabial single; infralabials 5; tail ≤ 0.95 x SVL.
Pre- and postfrontal bones in contact above orbit; postorbital absent; orbitosphenoid well ossified; quadratal conch reduced to small flange; palatal rami of pterygoids with slight to deep recurved processes; crowns of teeth squared off with distinct apical groove and rotated slightly posteromedially.
Presacral vertebrae ≥ 43; postsacral vertebrae ≤ 42; sternum with two attached ribs (from 9th and 10th vertebrae); mesosternum with one rib; complete inscriptional chevrons ≥ 11; front limb lacks all elements distal to single proximal carpal; rear limb lacks all elements distal to single proximal tarsal; ischia form acute angle at symphysis with shafts paralleling those of pubes.
Parietal peritoneum lacks pigment.
Although the list of derived character states for this genus is long, the only distinctly non-burrowing feature is the peculiar shape of the tooth crowns (Greer & Cogger 1985: 32) 
CommentType species: Ophioscincus australis PETERS 1873 is the type species of the genus Ophioscincus PETERS 1873.

Phylogenetics: see Singhal et al. 2017 and 2018 for a phylogeny of Australian sphenomorphine skinks. Note that they found O. truncatus and O. ophioscincus to be paraphyletic

Limb morphology: 0 digits 0 toes (Singhal et al. 2018, Brandley et al 2008)

Morphology: Hutchinson et al. 2021 present a table of morphological character states across 20 Australian sphenomorphine skinks, including this genus. 
EtymologyNamed after Greek “ophis” = snake. 
References
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1887. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) III. Lacertidae, Gerrhosauridae, Scincidae, Anelytropsidae, Dibamidae, Chamaeleontidae. London: 575 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.
  • Couper, P., Covacevich, J., Amey, A. & Baker, A. 2006. The genera of skinks (Family Scincidae) of Australia and its island territories: diversity, distribution and identification. in: Merrick, J.R., Archer, M., Hickey, G.M. & Lee, M.S.Y. (eds.). Evolution and Zoogeography of Australasian Vertebrates. Australian Scientific Publishing, Sydney, pp. 367-384
  • Greer A E; Cogger H G 1985. Systematics of the reduce-limbed and limbless skinks currently assigned to the genus Anomalopus (Lacertilia: Scincidae). Rec. Austral. Mus. 37(1) 1985: 11-54 - get paper here
  • Heyer, W.R. 1972. A new limbless skink (Reptilia: Scincidae) from Thailand with comments on the generic status of the limbless skinks of southeast Asia. Fieldiana: Zoology 58 (10): 109-129 - get paper here
  • Hutchinson, M. N., Couper, P., Amey, A., & Wilmer, J. W. 2021. Diversity and Systematics of Limbless Skinks (Anomalopus) from Eastern Australia and the Skeletal Changes that Accompany the Substrate Swimming Body Form. Journal of Herpetology 55 (4): 361-384 - get paper here
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1874. Über neue Saurier (Spæriodactylus, Anolis, Phrynosoma, Tropidolepisma, Lygosoma, Ophioscincus) aus Centralamerica, Mexico und Australien. Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1873 (November): 738-747 - get paper here
  • Reeder, T.W. 2003. A phylogeny of the Australian Sphenomorphus group (Scincidae: Squamata) and the phylogenetic placement of the crocodile skinks (Tribolonotus): Bayesian approaches to assessing congruence and obtaining confidence in maximum likelihood inferred relatio Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27: 384–397 - get paper here
  • Singhal, Sonal; Huateng Huang, Maggie R. Grundler, María R. Marchán-Rivadeneira, Iris Holmes, Pascal O. Title, Stephen C. Donnellan, and Daniel L. Rabosky 2018. Does Population Structure Predict the Rate of Speciation? A Comparative Test across Australia’s Most Diverse Vertebrate Radiation. The American Naturalist - 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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