Sphenomorphus tetradactylus (DAREVSKY & ORLOV, 2005)

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Higher Taxa	Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names
Synonym	Leptoseps tetradactylus DAREVSKY & ORLOV 2005 Leptoseps tetradactylus — NGUYEN et al. 2009 Sphenomorphus tetradactylus — NGUYEN et al. 2011
Distribution	Vietnam (Quang Binh Province) Type locality: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Quang Binh Province, Vietnam (17°23' N, 108°18' E, elevation 300 m)
Reproduction
Types	Holotype: ZISP 23259
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: A slender Leptoseps species distinguished from two known congeners and related limb-reduced Asian lygosomines by the following combination of characters: parietal eye spot absent; supranasals ab- sent; prefrontals weakly marked; loreal single; frontal somewhat larger than interparietal; nuchals present; four supraoculars; lower eyelid scaly; ear opening secretive; dorsal scale smooth in 20 longitudinal rows at midbody; four fingers and five toes.
Comment	Abundance: probably rare; Known only from the holotype (fide DAREVSKY & ORLOV 2005). This is one of the species called “lost” and “rediscovered” by Lindken et al. 2024. Sympatry: the following species of skinks occur in the same limestone massif: Eumeces elegans Boulenger, 1887; Eumeces quadrilineatus (Blyth, 1853); Lygosoma quadrupes (Linnaeus, 1766); Eutropis longicaudata (Hallowell, 1856); Eutropis multifasciata (Kuhl, 1820); Scincela cf. rupicolum (Smith, 1916); Scincela reevesii (Gray, 1838); Scincella sp.; Sphenomorphus indicus (Gray, 1853); Sphenomorphus sp.; Tropidophorus cf. baviensis Bourret, 1937; and Tropidophorus cocincinensis Duméril et Bibron, 1839.
Etymology	The species name tetradactylus call attention to the presence only of four finger on the front legs.
References	Bobrov V.V., Semenov D.V. 2008. Lizards of Vietnam [in Russian]. Moscow, 236 pp. Darevsky, I.S. & Orlov, N.L. 2005. New species of limb-reduced lygosomine skink genus Leptoseps GREER, 1997 (Sauria, Scincidae) from Vietnam. Russ. J. Herpetol. 12 (1): 65-68 - get paper here Lindken T.; Anderson, C. V., Ariano-Sánchez, D., Barki, G., Biggs, C., Bowles, P., Chaitanya, R., Cronin, D. T., Jähnig, S. C., Jeschke, J. M., Kennerley, R. J., Lacher, T. E. Jr., Luedtke, J. A., Liu, C., Long, B., Mallon, D., Martin, G. M., Meiri, 2024. What factors influence the rediscovery of lost tetrapod species? Global Change Biology, 30: 1-18 - get paper here Nguyen, S.V., Ho, C.T. and Nguyen, T.Q. 2009. Herpetofauna of Vietnam. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 768 pp. Nguyen, Truong Quang; Andreas Schmitz, Tao Thien Nguyen, Nikolai L. Orlov, Wolfgang Böhme, and Thomas Ziegler 2011. Review of the Genus Sphenomorphus Fitzinger, 1843 (Squamata: Sauria: Scincidae) in Vietnam, with Description of a New Species from Northern Vietnam and Southern China and the First Record of Sphenomorphus mimicus Taylor, 1962 from Vietnam. Journal of Herpetology 45 (2): 145-154.
External links	IUCN Red List Google images

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