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Cryptoblepharus mertensi HORNER, 2007

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Higher TaxaScincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Mertens’s snake-eyed skink 
SynonymCryptoblepharus mertensi HORNER 2007: 90
Cryptoblepharus mertensi — WILSON & SWAN 2010 
DistributionAustralia (Northern Territory)

Type locality: Roper River, junction with Sherwin Creek, Northern Territory, Australia, 14°39’29”S 134°21’32”E.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: NTM R22943, adult female, (Tissue sample No. ABTC BC4), coll. J. Wombey, 27 October 1996. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: A small (<40 mm SVL), short-legged, shallow-headed, arboreal Cryptoblepharus, distinguished from Australian congeners by combination of modal values of five supraciliary scales, 24 mid-body scale rows and 49 paravertebral scales; mean values of 34.0 mm snout-vent length, head depth 43.4% of head length, forelimb length 34.0% of snout-vent length, hemipenis length 6.1% of snout-vent length; pale, acute plantar scales; weakly keeled subdigital lamellae and usually 2+2 posttemporal scales. (Horner 2007)


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CommentSympatry. Cryptoblepharus mertensi occurs in sympatry with C. ruber and C. metallicus. It is sympatric with C. metallicus at the junction of Sherwin Creek and the Roper River, Nathan River Station and 3 km south of Batten Point. Sympatry with more than one congener occurs by the Roper River at 14°48’00”S 134°56’42”E (C. ruber and C. metallicus). 
EtymologyNamed for the late Professor Robert Mertens, former curator at the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Cryptoblepharus taxonomy. See also Haacke 1975. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Haacke, W.D. 1975. Obituaries on African Herpetologists- Mertens, R. 1894 - 1975. J. Herp. Assoc. Africa (14): 35-36 - get paper here
  • Horner, P. 2007. Systematics of the snake-eyed skinks, Cryptoblepharus Wiegmann (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) - an Australian based review. The Beagle Supplement 3: 21-198
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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