Cyclodomorphus melanops (STIRLING & ZIETZ, 1893)
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Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Egerniinae (Tiliquini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
Subspecies | Cyclodomorphus melanops melanops (STIRLING & ZIETZ 1893) Cyclodomorphus melanops elongatus (WERNER 1910) Cyclodomorphus melanops siticulosus SHEA & MILLER 1995 |
Common Names | E: Samphire Slender Bluetongue |
Synonym | Lygosoma melanops STIRLING & ZIETZ 1893: 173 Tiliqua melanops — GLAUERT 1960: 71 Omolepida melanops — PIANKA 1969 Tiliqua branchialis — COGGER 1983: 189 Cyclodomorphus melanops melanops — SHEA & MILLER 1995 Cyclodomorphus melanops — COGGER 2000: 754 Cyclodomorphus melanops — PIANKA & VITT 2003: 112 Zeusius melanops gillami WELLS 2007 Cyclodomorphus melanops — WILSON & SWAN 2010 Cyclodomorphus melanops elongatus (WERNER 1910) Lygosoma (Lygosoma) mülleri PETERS 1878: 191 [non Scincus mulleri SCHLEGEL 1837] Lygosoma (Homolepida) branchiale elongatum WERNER 1910: 479 Lygosoma (Homolepida) petersi STERNFELD 1919: 81 (nom. subst.) Tiliqua melanops — GLAUERT 1960 Tiliqua melanops — WARBURG 1965 Cyclodomorphus melanops elongatus — SHEA & MILLER 1995 Zeusius melanops swani WELLS 2007 Cyclodomorphus melanops elongatus — WILSON & SWAN 2013: 252 Cyclodomorphus melanops siticulosus SHEA & MILLER 1995: 308 |
Distribution | Australia (arid interior of all mainland states: Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, Northern Terrotory) melanops: arid NW-Australia (Kimberleys and Pilbara, Western Australia and C Australia. elongatus: arid S/E-Australia; southern Western Australia through South Australia, S Northern Territory, W New South Wales to W Queensland. Type locality: Boorabbin, "Südwest- Australien" [south W.A.]. siticulosus: southern fringe of the Nullarbor Plain. Type locality: between the Everard and Barrow Ranges, central Australia |
Reproduction | ovovivparous |
Types | Lectotype: SAMA R8139 (Lygosoma melanops) Holotype: ZMH R03961 (formerly no. 3500), from Boorabbin, W. A. [elongatus] Syntypes: two specimens, ZMB 9373, from "Süd-Australien" [Lygosoma (Lygosoma) mülleri] Holotype: SAMA R26399, collected by K. Casperson in 1984; paratypes: AM, SAM, WAM [siticulosus] |
Diagnosis | Description: “This small short-limbed species is very attenuated, the distance from the tip of the snout to the fore limb being contained from 2 to to 2.5 in the distance from the axilla to the groin. Snout short, lower eyelid scaly, 5th upper labial under the centre of the eye, 6th largest. Ear opening small with a single lobule. Three pairs of enlarged nuchals. Scales round the body smooth, the two vertebral scries the largest, and the laterals smallest. Limbs short, the fore limb shorter than the head and nearly 5 times in the distance between the axilla and the groin; hind limbs slightly longer. Tail shorter than the head and body. The colour varies. Specimens from Newmarracarra near Gerald ton are pale brown above with a black spot or short stripe on each scale and series of black spots forming lines from the side of the head to the chin and throat, together with 3 large black spots on each side of the neck.” (Glauert 1969) |
Comment | Synonymy: Lygosoma Mülleri PETERS 1878 is a homonym of Scincus muelleri SCHLEGEL 1837: 13, at least when both were placed in Lygosoma, hence Sternfeld 1919 suggested a replacement name, Lygosoma (Homolepida) petersi. KAISER et al. 2013 rejected all names coined by HOSER in or after 2000. Lygosoma melanops STIRLING & ZIETZ 1893 has been synonymized with Cyclodomorphus branchialis by COGGER 1983 (the latter as Tiliqua branchialis). |
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