Eurylepis taeniolata BLYTH, 1854
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Eurylepis taeniolata
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | Eurylepis taeniolatus arabicus (SZCZERBAK 1990) Eurylepis taeniolatus parthianicus (SZCZERBAK 1990) Eurylepis taeniolatus taeniolatus BLYTH 1854 |
| Common Names | E: Ribbon-Sided Skink, Alpine Punjab Skink, Yellow-bellied Mole Skink parthianicus: Parthian Skink |
| Synonym | Eurylepis taeniolatus BLYTH 1854 Plestiodon scutatus THEOBALD 1868: 25 (fide SMITH 1935) Eumeces taeniolatus — STOLICZKA 1872: 75 Mabovia [sic] taeniolata — ANDERSON 1871: 184 Eumeces scutatus — BOULENGER 1887: 382 (fide SMITH 1935) Eurylepis taeniolatus — DUNN 1933 Eurylepis scutatus — DUNN 1933 Eumeces taeniolatus — SMITH 1935: 342 Eumeces taeniolatus — TAYLOR 1936: 111 Eumeces taeniolatus — HAAS 1957: 74 Eumeces taeniolatus — DAS 1996: 46 Eumeces taeniolatus — KHAN & KHAN 1997 Eumeces taeniolatus — ANDERSON 1999 Eurylepis taeniolatus — GRIFFITH, NGO & MURPHY 2000 Eumeces taeniolatus — KHAN 2002 (pers. comm.) Eumeces taeniolatus — SZCZERBAK 2003 Eurylepis taeniolatus — SCHMITZ et al. 2004 Eumeces taeniolatus — BAIG et al. 2008 Eumeces taeniolatus — DATTA-ROY 2017 Eurylepis taeniolatus — PATEL & VYAS 2019 Eurylepis taeniolatus — KAMALI 2020 Eurylepis taeniolata — CHAPPLE et al. 2021 Eurylepis taeniolatus — SINGH et al. 2021 Eurylepis taeniolatus arabicus (SZCZERBAK 1990) Eumeces yemenensis AL-SAFADI 1989 Eurylepis taeniolatus arabicus — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008 Eurylepis taeniolatus arabicus — SINDACO et al. 2014 Eurylepis taeniolatus parthianicus (SZCZERBAK 1990) Eurylepis taeniolatus pathianicus [sic] — RASTEGAR-POUYANI et al. 2008 |
| Distribution | NW/W Saudi Arabia, S Yemen, NE Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India (Kashmir, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir), S Turkmenistan arabicus: Arabia; Type locality: 16 km from Taif-Abha Rd, Saudi Arabia parthianicus: Turkmen-Khorassan [former USSR] area; Turkmenistan, NE Iran, N Afghanistan; Type locality: Northern slope of central Kopet Dag, Chuli, 25 km west of Ashkhabad, Turkmenistan. Type locality: Alpine Punjab, Pakistan |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: ZSI 2382 (fide Das et al, 1998) Holotype: NMNHU (also given as ZIK) Re 18 no. 17660 adult male [parthianica] Holotype: BMNH 1978.2268, collected by J. Gasperetti [arabica] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: This species is characterized by the following combination of characters: dorsal scalation heterogeneous, composed of smaller cycloid, imbricate scales laterally and a vertebral series of 75 enlarged, greatly elongated scales including nuchals; 21 rows of scales at midbody; a single large postnasal and 2 loreals; 7 supralabials, with the 5th and 6th forming the lower border of eye, the 7th the largest; 6 to 7 infralabials; 3rd toe is shorter than 4th, with 9 to 11 lamellae under 3rd toe and 8 to 9 under the 4th; tail longer than SVL. Diagnosis (genus Eurylepis): Elongate, 35 or more presacral vertebrae (convergent with many other scincid groups). Limbs relatively slender, lamellae not expanded. Head somewhat conical, dorsal surface convex in lateral view, parietal bone with clear lateral indentations and supratemporal fontanelle open. Sexual dimorphism in head proportions not distinct. Scales shiny, separated by shallow sutures. Two loreals, followed by two presuboculars. Post-nasal scales present. Palpebral scales and superciliaries not separated by groove. Four or five pairs of nuchal scales, followed by several pairs of broadened mid-dorsal scales and broad row of fused mid-dorsal scales. Large medial preanal scales overlie small lateral pair. Ear lobules conspicuous, but not covering ear opening. Color pattern consists of gray-brown background, with pale, broad dorsolateral stripes, more distinct anteriorly, brown rectangular spots dominating posteriorly. Northern extent of range poorly known; southern portion of distribution includes Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern India. (fide GRIFFITH et al. 2000) |
| Comment | Type Species: Eurylepis taeniolatus BLYTH 1854 is the type species of the genus Eurylepis BLYTH 1854. Gender. According to the ICZN, the gender of Eurylepis is feminine. See article 30.1.2. “a genus-group name that is or ends in a Greek word transliterated into Latin without other changes takes the gender given for that word in standard Greek dictionaries; Examples. [...] Names ending in -lepis (lepis), or -opsis (opsis) are feminine.” Distribution: listed as questionable/possible for Jordan by DISI et al. 2001. See map in SMID et al. 2014 for distribution in Iran. |
| Etymology | Named after Greek Tainia or Latin taenia = band, probably based on the bands on its tail. Named after the large scales, Greek “eurys” = broad, wide, and “lepis” (= scale). Genus names ending in -lepis are feminine (Böhme & Denzer 2019), hence the name needs to be taeniolata. |
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