Kaestlea bilineata (GRAY, 1846)

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Higher Taxa	Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Two-lined Ground Skink
Synonym	Mocoa bilineata GRAY 1846: 430 Mocoa bilineata — JERDON 1853: 477 Eumeces bilineatus — GÜNTHER 1864 Lygosoma bilineatum — BOULENGER 1887: 259 Leiolopisma bilineatum — SMITH 1935: 306 Scincella bilineata — GREER 1974 Scincella bilineatum — DAS 1996: 48 Kaestlea bilineata — EREMCHENKO & DAS 2004
Distribution	India (Nilgiri Hills, Travancore Hills, Kerala) Type locality: “Madras”, at present Chennai, Tamil Nadu, SE India (13° 5’ N, 80° 17’ E); restricted to “Summit of the Nilgiris” by EREMCHENKO & DAS 2004.
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Lectotype: BMNH 1946.8.17.71, designated by Eremchenko & Das (2004)
Diagnosis	Diagnosis (genus): A member of Sphenomorphus group of lygosomine scincids and a derived member of the variegatus species-group (sensu Greer, 1974; 1979) showing similarities to the primarily Asian Scincella-like and Ablepharus-like species groups (genera: Asymblepharus and Scincella [sensu Eremchenko, 1987]), but differing from them in having the following combination of characters: A). Group II alpha palate (sensu Greer, 1974); lower eyelid with a clear window; nuchals and Group I temporal scales (Greer, 1974); two frontoparietals, or frontoparietal single; prefrontals small and separated; tympanum slightly or deeply sunk; limbs well-developed; scales around midbody 20-30; and middle neck and dorsum 26-41; four enlarged preanals, central pair larger than lateral pair. B). premaxillary teeth nine; pterygoid teeth rudimentary, 0-5; postorbitals present, elongated, thin; greater part of dorsal surface of digits with 1-2 rows of scales (Fig. 2) sharing characters with Group I and III (sensu Brongersma, 1942: Fig. 1b-d) fifth and sixth supralabial in midorbital position; size small, SVL to 62.0 mm; tail bright blue [EREMCHENKO & DAS 2004]. Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 1941 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Synonymy mostly that of OUBOTER (1986). Type Species: Mocoa bilineata GRAY 1846 is the type species of the genus Kaestlea EREMCHENKO & DAS 2004. Phylogenetics: for a phylogenetic analysis of the position of Kaestlea see Ghosh et al. 2023. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species.
Etymology	Apparently named after the two dorsal stripes in this species. The name of the new genus honours Professor Werner Kästle (1926-2019), German herpetologist, co-editor of the volume ‘Amphibians and reptiles of Nepal.’ (2002), among many other publications. For a brief biography see Kabisch 2019 and Bischoff et al. 2024.
References	Bischoff, W. (ed.) 2024. Die Geschichte der Herpetologie und Terrarienkunde im deutschsprachigen Raum – III. Mertensiella 33: 768 pp. Boulenger, G. A. 1887. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) III. Lacertidae, Gerrhosauridae, Scincidae, Anelytropsidae, Dibamidae, Chamaeleontidae. London: 575 pp. - get paper here Boulenger, George A. 1890. The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Batrachia. Taylor & Francis, London, xviii, 541 pp. - get paper here Eremchenko, V. K & I. Das 2004. Kaestlea: a new genus of scincid lizards (Scincidae: Lygosominae) from the Western Ghats, south-western India. Hamadryad 28 (1&2): 43-50 - get paper here Ganesh, S.R.; S. Bhupathy, P. Karthik, G. Babu Rao & S. Babu 2020. Catalogue of herpetological specimens from peninsular India at the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology & Natural History (SACON), India. JoTT 12 (9): 16123–16135 - get paper here Ghosh, A., Sil, M., Ukuwela, K. B., & Datta‐Roy, A. 2023. Independent origins or single dispersal? Phylogenetic study supports early Cenozoic origin of three endemic Indo‐Sri Lankan Lygosomine skink genera. Zoologica Scripta - get paper here Gray, J. E. 1846. Descriptions of some new species of Indian Lizards. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (1) 18: 429-430 - get paper here Günther, A. 1864. The Reptiles of British India. London (Taylor & Francis), xxvii + 452 pp. - get paper here Jerdon, T.C. 1853. Catalogue of the Reptiles inhabiting the Peninsula of India. Part 1. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal xxii [1854]: 462-479 (1853 fide Bauer et al. 2008) - get paper here Kabisch, K. 2019. Nachruf auf Werner Kästle. Elaphe 2019 (4): 94 Ouboter P E 1986. A revision of the genus Scincella (Reptilia: Sauria: Scincidae) of Asia, with some notes on its evolution. Zoologische Verhandelingen (229): 1-66 - get paper here Palot, M.J. 2015. A checklist of reptiles of Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 7(13): 8010–8022 - get paper here Shea, Glenn M. and Allen E. Greer 2002. From Sphenomorphus to Lipinia: Generic reassignment of two poorly known New Guinea skinks. Journal of Herpetology 36 (2): 148-156 - get paper here Smith, M.A. 1935. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II. Sauria. Taylor and Francis, London, 440 pp. Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - get paper here Venugopal, P.D. 2010. An updated and annotated list of Indian lizards (Reptilia: Sauria) based on a review of distribution records and checklists of Indian reptiles. Journal of Threatened Taxa 2 (3): 725-738. - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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