Dravidoseps pruthi (SHARMA, 1977)
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Dravidoseps pruthi
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Lygosominae (Lygosomini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Pruthi’s (supple) skink, Pruthi’s leaf-litter skink |
| Synonym | Riopa pruthi SHARMA 1977 Lygosoma pruthi — DAS 1996: 46 Lygosoma pruthi — DAS 2003 Lygosoma cf. pruthi — GANESH & ARUMUGAM 2016 Subdoluseps pruthi — FREITAS et al. 2019 Dravidoseps pruthi — AGARWAL et al. 2024 |
| Distribution | India (Tamil Nadu) Type locality: Chitteri (= Sitteri), a hill range located near Dharmapuri, in Southern Eastern Ghats, lat. 11°50′N, long. 78°25′E |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Neotype: NRC-AA-1291 (AK-R 2222), adult female, from Sitteri Hills (11.90208°N, 78.51800°E; elevation ca. 880 m asl.), Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu State, India, collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Swapnil Pawar and team on 29th May 2022 (designated by Agarwal et al. 2024). The holotype: ZSI 22393, is considered lost (Das et al. 1998; Ganesh and Aengals 2018; Ganesh et al. 2021, Agarwal et al. 2024). Additional material (n = 9). NRC-AA-1292 (AK 803), NRC-AA-1293 (AK 804), and NRC-AA-1294 (AK 805), subadults, from Forest Department campus, Sitteri Hills (11.89152°N, 78.50747°E; elevation ca. 950 m asl.), Dharmapuri District, collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Swapnil Pawar, Tejas Thackeray and team on 1st June 2019; BNHS 2525 (AK-R 2197), BNHS 2557 (AK-R 2198), BNHS 2558 (AK-R 2200), adult males, from Palamalai Hills (11.70744°N, 77.73598°E; elevation ca. 1000 m asl.); ZSI-R-28600 (AK-R 2201), subadult, from Palamalai Hills (11.73335°N, 77.73156°E; elevation ca. 600 m asl.), Salem District, same collectors as neotype, collected on 28th May 2022; ZSI-R-28601 (AK-R 2716), adult male, from Vanavasi Reserve Forest (11.75203°N, 77.84129°E; elevation ca. 520 m asl.), Salem District, same collectors as neotype, collected on 11th October 2022; ZSI-R-28602 (AK-R 2750), adult female, from north of Yercaud (11.90822°N, 78.18878°E; elevation ca. 650 m asl.), in Shevaroy Hills, Salem District, same collectors as neotype, collected on 15th October 2022. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (Dravidoseps). Medium-sized skinks (adult SVL < 58 mm; n = 89), original tail equal to or slightly longer than body. Dorsal scales on body and tail smooth, cycloid, imbricate; ventrals similar except marginally larger on pectoral and precloacal region; scales on lateral tail base smooth or tricarinate; 62–70 scales in paravertebral rows; 26–32 scales around mid-body; 61–73 ventral scales (rarely 76, n = 1/89); 8–12 enlarged precloacal scales (rarely 13, n = 1/89); and 18–23 scales round the tail. Supranasals in contact with each other behind rostral (rarely not in contact, n = 1/89); single frontonasal; prefrontals relatively small, widely separated on midline; frontal elongate, bell-shaped; four supraoculars; three supraoculars in contact with frontoparietal (rarely two, n = 4/89); frontoparietal divided; interparietal diamond-shaped, eyespot in posterior projection; parietals large, in medial contact posterior to interparietal; 2–4 nuchals, either in contact behind parietals or separated medially by 1–3 paravertebral scales. Nasal divided; two loreals; a single pre-supraocular; two preoculars (rarely three, n = 4/89); and a single sub-preocular (rarely absent, n = 5/89); 6–8 supraciliaries (rarely nine, n = 1/89); lower eyelid with enlarged, transparent central window; a single post-supraocular and postocular; and three or four sub-postoculars (rarely five, n = 3/89); a single primary, two secondary (rarely three, n = 1/89), and three tertiary (rarely four, n = 1/89) temporals. Six or seven supralabials and infralabials; fourth or fifth supralabial elongate, below eye; one or two post-supralabials; 1–3 ear lobules; three enlarged pairs of chin shields. Pentadactyl; limbs well-developed; subdigital lamellae unpaired, smooth to weakly keeled; 4–7 lamellae under digit I of manus and pes, 9–12 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 12–17 lamellae under digit IV of pes (rarely 18, n = 1/89). Viviparous, litter size 2–4. Dorsum light coconut to dark chocolate brown; thick dark band from rostrum to tail speckled with light spots; supralabials with a white streak; males with yellow on lower parts of forebody and flanks, sometimes extending onto belly; venter white with some darker markings (Fig. 9). Dravidoseps gen. nov. differs from Subdoluseps by the presence of a transparent central window in the lower eyelid (versus no transparent central window in the lower eyelid), by the presence of an open secondary palate (versus a closed secondary palate) and by being viviparous (versus oviparous) (Freitas et al. 2019; Zimin et al. 2021, Agarwal et al. 2024). |
| Comment | Similar species: Subdoluseps nilgiriensis Type species: Riopa pruthi SHARMA 1977 is the type species of the genus Dravidoseps AGARWAL et al. 2024. |
| Etymology | Named after its collector Dr. Hem Singh Pruthi (1897-1969) an eminent entomologist from the erstwhile ‘Punjab’ (Lal, 1954; Beolens et al., 2011) The genus name Dravidoseps is a combination of the Sanskrit ‘Dravida’, referring to the original inhabitants of southern India and Sri Lanka, and the Ancient Greek ‘seps’, for a snake-like creature that has been previously used in skink generic names (e.g. Erens et al. 2017; Freitas et al. 2019). The gender of the genus is masculine and the suggested common name is Indian leaf-litter skinks. |
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