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Lerista bipes (FISCHER, 1882)

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Higher TaxaScincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: North-western Sandslider 
SynonymRhodona bipes FISCHER 1882: 292
Lygosoma bipes — MONTAGUE 1914: 641
Rhodona bipes — SMITH 1937: 231
Lygosoma (Rhodona) bipes — GLAUERT 1960: 97
Lerista bipes — GREER 1967
Rhodona bipes — PIANKA 1969
Lerista bipes — STORR 1976: 254
Lerista bipes — COGGER 1983: 171
Lerista bipes — COGGER 2000: 513
Gaia bipes — WELLS 2012: 198
Lerista bipes — WILSON & SWAN 2010 
DistributionAustralia (Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia)

Type locality: Nickol Bay, W. A.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: SMNS 1217 
Diagnosis 
CommentType Species: Rhodona bipes Fischer, 1882 is the type species of the genus Gaia WELLS 2012: 186. WELLS 2012: 47 erected the genus for the species G. bipes, greeri, griffini, ips, labialis, robusta, rolloi, simillima. Unfortunately WELLS did not provide a phylogenetic analysis of the genera into which he broke up Lerista, hence we leave the current genus Lerista intact for the time being. Rhodona bipes Fischer 1882 is also the type species of the genus Ollochirus COPE 1892, a synonym of Lerista, fide Shea 2021.

Abundance: common, with more than 2000 specimens collected (Pianka 2011)

Limb morphology: 0 digits, 2 toes 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Latin bis (two) plus pes (foot), in reference to the lack of forelimbs in the species, leaving only the two hind limbs. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Cope, E.D. 1892. On degenerate types of scapular and pelvic arches in the Lacertilia. Journal of Morphology 7: 223–242 - get paper here
  • Couper, P., Covacevich, J., Amey, A. & Baker, A. 2006. The genera of skinks (Family Scincidae) of Australia and its island territories: diversity, distribution and identification. in: Merrick, J.R., Archer, M., Hickey, G.M. & Lee, M.S.Y. (eds.). Evolution and Zoogeography of Australasian Vertebrates. Australian Scientific Publishing, Sydney, pp. 367-384
  • Dittmer, D. E., Chapman, T. L. & Bidwell, J. R. 2020. In the shadow of an iconic inselberg: Uluru’s shadow influences climates and reptile assemblage structure at its base. J. Arid Environ. 181, 104179 (2020) - get paper here
  • Fischer, J. G. 1882. Herpetologische Bemerkungen. I. Bemerkungen über einzelne Stücke der Schlangensammlung des kön. Zoologischen Museums in Dresden. . II. Neue Eidechen aus Australien und Polynesien. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 48: 281-302 - get paper here
  • Glauert, L. 1960. Herpetological miscellanea. XII. The family Scincidae in Western Australia. Pt. 2. The genus Lygosoma. Western Australian Naturalist 7 (4): 81-99 - get paper here
  • Greer A E 1986. Diagnosis of the Lerista bipes species-group (Lacertilia: Scincidae), with a description of a new species and an updated diagnosis of the genus. Rec. West. Austr. Mus. 13 (1): 121-127 - get paper here
  • Greer, Allen E. 1967. A new generic arrangement for some Australian scincid lizards. Breviora (267): 1-19 - get paper here
  • Montague, P.D. 1914. A report on the fauna of the Monte Bello Islands. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1914: 625-652 + plates - get paper here
  • Morinaga, Gen and Philip J. Bergmann 2020. Evolution of fossorial locomotion in the transition from tetrapod to snake-like in lizards. Proc. R. Soc. B. 287: 20200192 - get paper here
  • Pianka, E. R. 1969. Habitat specificity, speciation, and species density in Australian desert lizards. Ecology 50 (3): 498-502 - get paper here
  • Reeder, T.W. 2003. A phylogeny of the Australian Sphenomorphus group (Scincidae: Squamata) and the phylogenetic placement of the crocodile skinks (Tribolonotus): Bayesian approaches to assessing congruence and obtaining confidence in maximum likelihood inferred relatio Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27: 384–397 - get paper here
  • Schlüter, A. & Hallermann, J. 1997. The Type Specimens in the Herpetological Collection of the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Stuttgart. Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk. Ser. A (553): 1-15 - get paper here
  • SHEA, GLENN M. 2021. The identity of twelve scincid generic names proposed by Cope in 1892 (Squamata: Scincidae). Zootaxa 5057 (4): 577–589 - get paper here
  • Skinner, Adam; Michael S Y Lee and Mark N Hutchinson 2008. Rapid and repeated limb loss in a clade of scincid lizards. [Lerista]. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8:310 - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1937. A review of the genus Lygosoma (Scincidae: Reptilia) and its allies. Records of the Indian Museum 39 (3): 213-234
  • Storr, G. M. 1971. The genus Lerista (Lacertilia: Scincidae) in Western Australia. J R. Soc. West. Aust. 54: 59-75
  • Storr, G. M. 1976. Revisionary notes on the Lerista (Lacertilia: Scincidae) of Western Australia. Rec. West. Aust. Mus. 4: 241-256 - get paper here
  • Storr, G. M., Smith, L. A. & Johnstone, R. E. 1981. Lizards of Western Australia. I. Skinks. Perth: University of Western Australia Press and Western Australian Museum, 200 pp.
  • Storr, G. M.; L. A. Smith, and R. E. Johnstone 1999. Lizards of Western Australia. I. Skinks. Revised Edition. Western Australian Museum
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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