Chalcides ragazzii BOULENGER, 1890
We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search:
Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
Subspecies | |
Common Names | E: Ragazzi's Cylindrical Skink, Ragazzi's Bronze Skink |
Synonym | Chalcides ocellatus var. ragazzii BOULENGER 1890: 444 Chalcides ocellatus var. humilis BOULENGER 1896: 552 Chalcides ocellatus bottegi PARKER 1932: 337 Chalcides ocellatus humilis — MERTENS 1921: 117 Chalcides ocellatus ragazzii MERTENS 1921: 117 Chalcides ocellatus ragazzii — CALABRESI 1925: 103 Chalcides ragazzii — PASTEUR 1981 Chalcides ragazzii — SCHLEICH, KÄSTLE & KABISCH 1996: 347 Chalcides ragazzii — GREENBAUM et al. 2006 Chalcides cf. humilis — BAHA EL DIN 2006 Chalcides ocellatus humilis — CARRANZA et al. 2008 Chalcides humilis — KORNILIOS et al. 2010 Chalcides ragazzii — LARGEN & SPAWLS 2010: 374 Chalcides cf. humilis — MAZUCH 2013 Chalcides humilis — SPAWLS et al. 2023 |
Distribution | Niger, N Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, SE Sahara, probably in Sudan (Jumhūriyyat) (L. Chirio, pers. comm.), Djibouti Type locality: Assab, Eritrea Type locality: Dahlak Islands, Mareb and Ghinda, Eritrea [humilis] |
Reproduction | ovovivparous |
Types | Syntypes: BMNH 1946.8.21.31 (formerly BMNH 96.5.19.50), MSNG 6626 |
Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Chalcides ragazzii is a large, pentadactyl species with unexpanded or slightly expanded vertebral scales, a long tail, a vertebral pale brown or brown stripe with lateral, thin dark brown borders that spans the vertebrals and medial half of the paravertebrals, a cream stripe on the lateral sides of the dorsum, and an irregular dark brown stripe on the flanks; the dorsum, flanks, and tail are extensively to slightly covered with dark brown spots and white ocelli. Chalcides ragazzii is distinguished from C. armitagei by the possession of pentadactyl limbs (tridactyl in C. armitagei), six supralabials (5 in C. armitagei), six infralabials (4 in C. armitagei), one postnasal (absent in C. armitagei), 68–80 ventrals (94–96 in C. armitagei), and 33–39 presacral vertebrae (50–51 in C. armitagei) (Caputo et al., 1995). Chalcides ragazzii is distinguished from C. pulchellus and C. thierryi by having a vertebral pale brown or brown stripe with lateral, thin dark brown borders that spans the vertebrals and medial half of the paravertebrals, a cream stripe on the lateral sides of the dorsum, and an irregular dark brown stripe on the flanks (no stripes in C. pulchellus and C. thierryi), numerous brown spots with white ocelli on the body (no white ocelli in C. pulchellus and C. thierryi), and usually unexpanded or slightly expanded vertebrals (always extensively expanded vertebrals in C. pulchellus and C. thierryi). Differences among populations of C. bottegi, C. ocellatus and C. ragazziii are shown in Table 1. Chalcides ragazzii is distinguished from C. ocellatus by having a vertebral pale brown or brown stripe with lateral, thin dark brown borders that spans the vertebrals and medial half of the paravertebrals, a cream stripe on the lateral sides of the dorsum, and an irregular dark brown stripe on the flanks (no stripes or vertebral stripe spanning vertebrals, paravertebrals, and dorsals lateral to paravertebrals in C. ocellatus), and 22–26 scale rows around midbody (26–32 in C. ocellatus). Chalcides ragazzii is distinguished from C. bottegi by having a vertebral pale brown or brown stripe bordered on each side by a thin, dark brown stripe (pale brown vertebral stripe with brown borders in C. ragazzii; Fig. 7), usually unexpanded or slightly expanded vertebrals (always extensively expanded vertebrals in C. bottegi), 68–80 ventrals (81–92 in C. bottegi), and 33–39 presacral vertebrae (41–43 in C. bottegi) [from GREENBAUM et al. 2006.] |
Comment | Distribution: not in East Africa (S. Spawls, pers. comm., 28 June 2018). Not in Algeria (E Hoggar mountains) fide Greenbaum et al. 2006. |
Etymology | Named after the collector of the holotype, Dr. V. Ragazzi. |
References |
|
External links |