Lerista bipes (FISCHER, 1882)

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Higher Taxa	Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: North-western Sandslider
Synonym	Rhodona 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
Distribution	Australia (Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia) Type locality: Nickol Bay, W. A.
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Holotype: SMNS 1217
Diagnosis	Additional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (4480 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Type 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
Etymology	Presumably 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.
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information http://www.amonline.net.au/herpetology/research/pdf/scincidae.pdf http://www.arod.com.au/arod/reptilia/Squamata/Scincidae/Lerista/bipes Google images

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