You are here » home › advanced search › Ablepharus ladacensis

Ablepharus ladacensis (GÜNTHER, 1864)

iNaturalist logo

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Ablepharus ladacensis?

Add your own observation of
Ablepharus ladacensis »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaScincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesAblepharus ladacensis ladacensis (GÜNTHER 1864)
Ablepharus ladacensis stimsoni (EREMCENKO 1992) 
Common NamesE: Ladak Ground Skink
Chinese: 拉达克滑蜥 
SynonymEumeces ladacensis GÜNTHER 1864: 86
Eumeces ladacensis — ANDERSON 1872
Scincella ladacense MITTLEMAN 1952
Euprepes stoliczkai STEINDACHNER 1869: 46
Euprepes kargilensis STEINDACHNER 1869
Euprepes kargilensis — THEOBALD 1876
Mocoa kargilensis — THEOBALD 1876
Lygosoma ladacense — BOULENGER 1887
Leiolopisma ladacense — SCHMIDT 1926: 168
Leiolopisma ladacense — SMITH 1935
Lygosoma (Leiolopisma) ladacense — CONSTABLE 1949
Scincella ladacensis — GREER 1974: 7
Scincella ladacense — WANG & ZHAO 1986
Scincella ladacensis — OUBOTER 1986: 16
Asymblepharus ladacensis — (see comment)
Scincella ladacensis — DAS 1996: 48
Asymblepharus (Asymblepharus) ladacensis — EREMCHENKO 2003
Asymblepharus ladacensis — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008
Ablepharus ladacensis — MIRZA et al. 2022

Asymblepharus ladacensis stimsoni EREMČENKO 1992
Asymblepharus ladacensis stimsoni EREMČENKO 1992: 58
Asymblepharus ladacensis stimsoni — EREMCHENKO et al. 1998 
DistributionChina (Xizang =Tibet) [Scincella ladacensis ladacensis]
N Pakistan, W Himalaya (S Karakoram)
India (Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh)
W Nepal

Type locality: Ladak (= Ladakh), "Tibet" M. A. Smith (1935: 300) gave "Ladak, Kashmir." as type locality. The Ladakh
Mountains cross the Xizang-Kashmir (India) border, but Ladakh is in Kashmir.

stimsoni: Nepal, China (upper Ganges River basin); Type locality: "Nepal, Garanphu, Seti Vall., Bajang distr., 4270 M." (= Garaphu, 30° 00'N; 81° 20'E)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1946.8.16.28 (ladacensis)
Holotype: BMNH 1957.1.14.91, paratypes: BMNH 1957.1.14.81-86 (paratypes), "Saipal, Bajang dist., 4570 M." (30° 00'N; 81° 20'E, Nepal); BMNH 1957.1.14.87-88, "Ingul Divar, SE ridge of Kapkot near Duhli, 3660 M." (29° 80'N; 81° 30'E, Duhli sic for Dhuli, Nepal); BMNH 1957.1.14.89-90; 92-93, "Garanphu, Seti Valley, Bajang dist., 4270 M." (30° 00'N; 81° 20'E, Nepal); BMNH 1953.1.1.54, "Pemringgoan, Barbung Khola, 4880 M." (28º 52'N; 83º 15'E; Dolpa District, Nepal); BMNH 1953.1.55-57, "Balanga pass, Tibrikot, 3500 M." (29º 00'N; 82º 44'E, at present in Dolpa District); BMNH 1953.1.1.58, "Phoksumdo Tal, Tibrikot, 4270 M." (29° 00'N; 83° 00'E; Dolpa District, Nepal); BMNH 1953.1.1.59, "Kahajeng Khola, near Mohala Raiang, Charkabhot, 5490 M." (29° 00'N; 83° 30'E, Nepal). [stimsoni]
Syntypes: NMW 16643.1-4 [Euprepes kargilensis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: Ciliars distinctly thickenend. Palpebral disc very large (x ratio snout-vent length (SV length)/length transparent disc: 37.8). Frontal often thouching the third supraocular. Usually distinct projecting lobules on the anterior margin of the ear; ear slit-shaped. 57-90 gulars + ventrals; 24-38 scales around midbody. Ventral surface usually greenish-blue (Ouboter 1986: 16).


Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 391 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentScincella ladacensis has been renamed to Asymblepharus ladacensis, but most of the pertinent literature is in Russian and thus rarely seen. See references in the entries for Asymblepharus.

Synonymy: Schleich and Kästle (2002) consider stimsoni as a synonym of ladacensis but only state that stimsoni is “less stocky” than ladacensis. We haven’t seen an English tranlation of the original Russian description.

Similar species: Scincella sikimmensis, A. himalayana (Ouboter 1986 says there is clinal variation among the 3 species).

Subspecies: Scincella ladacensis himalayana (GÜNTHER 1864) is now considered as a valid species.

Distribution: reports from China are erroneous (SINDACO & JEREMCENKO 2008) and based on confusion with A. sikkimensis or A. ladacensis stimsoni. 
EtymologyNamed after the type locality in the Ladakh area. 
References
  • Anderson, J. 1872. On some Persian, Himalayan, and other Reptiles. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1872: 371-404 - get paper here
  • Blanford,W.T. 1878. "Reptilia and Amphibia" in Scientific Results of the Second Yarkand Mission. Calcutta, Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing. 4to, p. 1-26, 2 pis.
  • Borkin, Leo J.; Spartak N. Litvinchuk, Daniel A. Melnikov & Dmitriy V. Skorinov 2018. Altitudinal distribution of skinks of the genus Asymblepharus in the Western Himalaya, India (Reptilia: Sauria: Scincidae). In: Hartmann, Barclay & Weipert: Biodiversität und Naturausstattung im Himalaya VI. - Erfurt 2018: 163-167 - 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
  • Boulenger, George A. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp. - get paper here
  • Das, Indraneil & Abhijit Das 2017. A Naturalist’s Guide to the Reptiles of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. John Beaufoy Publishing Ltd., Oxford, 176 pp.
  • Eremchenko, V. K 2003. Generic and specific redefinition and redescription of the North-Vietnam skink (Scincella melanosticta (Boulenger, 1887). Izvestiya Vuzov (= Proceedings of Universitities and Institutes), Bishkek, (1-2): 20-28
  • Eremchenko, V.; Helfenberger,N.; K. B. Shah & A. M. Panfilov 1998. Two new species of skinks (Scincidae: Ligosominae [sic]) from Nepal [in Russian]. News nat. Acad. Sci. Kirgiz Republik, Bishkek (4): 41-45
  • Eremchenko, VALERY KONSTANTINOVICH (= JERJOMCENKO). 1987. Systematic and relative links of Indo-Himalayan scincells [Sauria, Scincidae] [in Russian]. Proc. Acad. Sci. Kirghizian SSR 1987(2): 54-57
  • Eremchenko, W. (= VALERIJ) KONSTANTINOVICH, ALEXANDER MIHAILOVICH PAVFILOV and EVGENY IVANOVICH TSARINENKO. 1992. About systematics of Asymblepharus ladacensis (Günther, 1864) (Sauria: Scincidae: Lygosominae). In: V. Eremchenko, A. M. Panfilov & E. I. Tsarinenko: Conspectus on cytogenetic and taxonomic research on some Asiatic species of Scincidae and Lacertidae [in Russian]. Ylym Publ., Bishket, Kiev, pp: 58-65.
  • 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 - get paper here
  • Günther, A. 1864. The Reptiles of British India. London (Taylor & Francis), xxvii + 452 pp. - get paper here
  • Hofmann, S., Baniya, C. B., Stöck, M., & Podsiadlowski, L. 2021. De novo Assembly, Annotation, and Analysis of Transcriptome Data of the Ladakh Ground Skink Provide Genetic Information on High-Altitude Adaptation. Genes, 12(9), 1423
  • Kästle , W., Rai, K. & Schleich, H.H. 2013. FIELD GUIDE to Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. ARCO-Nepal e.V., 625 pp. - get paper here
  • Khan, M.S. 2003. CHECKLIST AND KEY TO THE LIZARDS OF PAKISTAN. Pakistan J. Zool. Suppl. Ser. (1): 1-25 - get paper here
  • Mirza ZA, Bragin AM, Bhosale H, Gowande GG, Patel H, Poyarkov NA. 2022. A new ancient lineage of ablepharine skinks (Sauria: Scincidae) from eastern Himalayas with notes on origin and systematics of the group. PeerJ 10:e12800 - get paper here
  • Nanhoe, L.M.R., & Ouboter, P.E. 1987. The distribution of reptiles and amphibians in the Annapurna-Dhaulagiri region (Nepal). Zoologische Verhandelingen (240): 1-105 - get paper here
  • Ouboter P E 1986. A revision of the genus Scincella (Reptilia: Sauria: Scincidae) of Asia, with some notes on its evolution. Zoologische Verhandelingen (229): 1-66 - get paper here
  • Patel, D.A.; C. Ramesh, S. Ghosal, P. Raina 2023. Distribution and natural history notes on the herpetofauna of Ladakh, India. TAPROBANICA 12 (1): 30–32 - get paper here
  • Sahi D.N., Koul S. 2020. Annotated List of Amphibians and Reptiles of Jammu and Kashmir State. In: Dar G. & Khuroo A. (eds) Biodiversity of the Himalaya: Jammu and Kashmir State. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 18. Springer, Singapore - get paper here
  • Saikia, U.; Sharma, D.K. & Sharma, R.M. 2007. Checklist of the Reptilian fauna of Himachal Pradesh, India. Reptile Rap (8): 6-9 - get paper here
  • Schleich, H.H. & Kästle, W. (eds.) 2002. Amphibians and Reptiles of Nepal. Koeltz, Königstein, 1200 pp. [review in Reptilia 40: 87]
  • Schmidt,K.P. 1926. Amphibians and Reptiles of the James Simpson-Roosevelt Asiatic Expedition. Field Mus. nat. Hist., Zool. Ser. 12: 167-173 - get paper here
  • Sindaco, R. & Jeremcenko, V.K. 2008. The reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 579 pp. - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1935. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II. Sauria. Taylor and Francis, London, 440 pp.
  • Steindachner, F. 1867. In: Reise der Österreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde in den Jahren 1857, 1858,1859 unter den Befehlen des Commodore B. von Wüllerstorf-Urbair (Zoologie), Vol. 1, part 3 (Reptilien p.1-98). K. Gerold's Sohn/Kaiserlich-Königl. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Wien [1869 on title page] - get paper here
  • Swan, L.W., & Leviton, A.E. 1962. The herpetology of Nepal: a history, check list, and zoogeographical analysis of the herpetofauna. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 32 (6) (4.s.): 103-147. - get paper here
  • Venugopal, P.D. 2010. An updated and annotated list of Indian lizards (Reptilia: Sauria) based on a review of distribution records and checklists of Indian reptiles. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2 (3): 725-738. - get paper here
  • Wang, Kai; Jinlong Ren, Hongman Chen, Zhitong Lyu, Xianguang Guo Ke Jiang, Jinmin Chen, Jiatang Li, Peng Guo, Yingyong Wang, Jing Che 2020. The updated checklists of amphibians and reptiles of China. Biodiversity Science 28 (2): 189-218 - get paper here
  • Wang, YUE-ZHAO 1986. Studies on Chinese species of Scincella (Scincidae, Sauria) [in Chinese]. Acta Herpetol. Sinica, Chengdu, [new ser.], 5 (4): 267-277 - get paper here
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:


Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator