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Lerista praepedita (BOULENGER, 1887)

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Higher TaxaScincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Blunt-tailed West-coast Slider 
SynonymSoridia lineata GRAY 1839: 336 (non Lerista lineata BELL 1833)
Pholeophilus capensis SMITH 1849: 15 (nomen oblitum fide STORR 1971)
Soridia lineata — GÜNTHER 1873: 147
Praepeditus lineatus — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 788 (fide GÜNTHER 1873)
Lygosoma praepeditum BOULENGER 1887: 337 (nom. nov. pro Soridia lineata)
Rhodona lineata GRAY — SMITH 1937: 231 (?)
Lygosoma (Rhodona) praepeditum — GLAUERT 1960: 98
Lerista praepedita — GREER 1967
Lerista praepedita — COGGER 1983: 176
Lerista praepedita — COGGER 2000: 530
Soridia praepedita — WELLS 2012: 45 
DistributionAustralia (Western Australia)

Type locality: “Australasia”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: BMNH 1946.8.18.70-76, BMNH 1946.8.18.79.
Syntypes: BMNH 1946. 8. 18. 62-63, from Little Namaqualand, South Africa (in error) MCZ 112217-18 (ex BMNH 1946.8.18.77-78 [Pholeophilus capensis] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy partly after COGGER 1983.

Type species: Soridia lineata Gray, 1839 is the type species of the genus Soridia Gray 1839. Soridia was revived by WELLS 2012: 36 for Soridia humphriesi (Storr, 1971) and Soridia praepedita (Boulenger, 1887). Unfortunately WELLS did not provide a phylogenetic analysis of the genera into which he broke up Lerista, hence we leave the current genus Lerista intact for the time being.

Limb morphology: 0 digits, 0 toes (limbless) 
EtymologyBoulenger was not specific about the etymology, but possibly from the Latin prae (most) plus perdita (degenerate), with this species being nearly limbless, or the present feminine particle of the verb praepedio (to shackle). (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • Bergmann, Philip J; Sara D W Mann, Gen Morinaga, Elyse S Freitas, Cameron D Siler 2020. Convergent evolution of elongate forms in craniates and of locomotion in elongate squamate reptiles. Integrative and Comparative Biology, icaa015, - get paper here
  • 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
  • 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
  • Glauert, L. 1960. Herpetological miscellanea. XII. The family Scincidae in Western Australia. Pt. 2. The genus Lygosoma. Western Australian Naturalist 7 (4): 81-99 - get paper here
  • Gray,J.E. 1839. Catalogue of the slender-tongued saurians, with descriptions of many new genera and species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 2 (11): 331-337 [continued from page 293] - get paper here
  • Greer, Allen E. 1967. A new generic arrangement for some Australian scincid lizards. Breviora (267): 1-19 - get paper here
  • Greer,A.E. 1990. Limb reduction in the scincid lizard genus Lerista. 2. Variation in the bone complements of the front and rear limbs and the number of postsacral vertebrae. Journal of Herpetology 24 (2): 142-150 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1873. Notes on and descriptions of some lizards with rudimentary limbs, in the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (4) 12: 145-148 - 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
  • How, RA, Cowan, MA, Teale, RJ, Schmitt, LH. 2020. Environmental correlates of reptile variation on the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago, eastern Indian Ocean. J Biogeogr. 47: 2017– 2028 - get paper here
  • Maryan, B., Browne-Cooper, R. and Bush, B. 2002. Herpetofauna Survey of the Maralla Road Bushland. Western Australian Naturalist 23: 197-205 - 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
  • Morinaga, Gen and Philip J. Bergmann 2020. Evolution of fossorial locomotion in the transition from tetrapod to snake-like in lizards. Proc. R. Soc. B. 287: 20200192 - get paper here
  • Skinner, Adam; Michael S Y Lee and Mark N Hutchinson 2008. Rapid and repeated limb loss in a clade of scincid lizards. [Lerista]. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8:310 - get paper here
  • Smith, A. 1849. Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa. 3 (Reptiles). Smith, Elder, and Co., London [facsimile published by Winchester Press, Johannesburg, 1977] - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1937. A review of the genus Lygosoma (Scincidae: Reptilia) and its allies. Records of the Indian Museum 39 (3): 213-234
  • Storr, G. M. 1971. The genus Lerista (Lacertilia: Scincidae) in Western Australia. J R. Soc. West. Aust. 54: 59-75
  • Storr, G. M., Smith, L. A. & Johnstone, R. E. 1981. Lizards of Western Australia. I. Skinks. Perth: University of Western Australia Press and Western Australian Museum, 200 pp.
  • Storr, G. M.; L. A. Smith, and R. E. Johnstone 1999. Lizards of Western Australia. I. Skinks. Revised Edition. Western Australian Museum
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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