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Notomabuya frenata (COPE, 1863)

IUCN Red List - Notomabuya frenata - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Mabuyinae (Mabuyini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Cope's Mabuya
Portuguese: Calango, Calango-Liso, Lagartixa, Lagarto-Liso, Scinco-Chacoense, Scinco-Cinzento, Scinco-Prateado 
SynonymEmoea frenata COPE 1863: 187
Eumeces (Mabouya) Nattereri STEINDACHNER 1870
Mabuya frenata — BOCOURT 1881
Mabuia (Emoea) frenata — BOETTGER 1885: 228
Mabuya frenata — GALLARDO 1968: 187
Mabuya frenata — CEI 1993
Mabuya frenata — GREER et al. 2000
Mabuya frenata — MAUSFELD et al. 2002
Mabuya frenata — MIRALLES et al. 2009
Notomabuya frenata — HEDGES & CONN 2012
Notomabuya frenata — SANTOS et al. 2023 
DistributionBolivia (Beni, Cochabamba, La Paz, Santa Cruz, Tarija),
Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Tocantins [HR 31: 53], Goias, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Ceará, São Paulo, Maranhão, Rio de Janeiro, Piaui), Paraguay, Argentina (Corrientes)

Type locality: Río Paraguay valley, Paraguay.  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesSyntype: ANSP 9395, USNM 5855 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: The species in this genus is characterized by (1) frontoparietals, one, (2) supraciliaries, 4–6, (3) supraoculars, 4 (rarely three or five), (4) prefrontal contact, absent or rare, (5) parietal contact, present (or rarely no contact), (6) rows of nuchals, one, (7) dorsals + ventrals, 111–130, (8) total lamellae, 217–228, (9) a dark middorsal stripe, absent, (10) dark dorsolateral stripes, absent, (11) a dark lateral stripe, present, and (12) dark ventral striping, absent. The maximum SVL in this species is 91 mm (Vrcibradic & Rocha 2011) (Table 2).


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CommentSynonymy following that of CEI 1993.

Type species: Emoea frenata Cope, 1862:187 is the type species of the genus Notomabuya HEDGES & CONN 2012.

Diet: a large percentage of the diet of this species (10-30%) consists of ants (Lucas et al. 2023).

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyApparently named after Latin “frenum” = bridle, as the dark stripe around the skink’s eye resembles a horse's bridle.

The genus name (Notomabuya) is a feminine noun derived from the Greek notos (south, southern) and mabuya (a Neotropical skink), hence "Southern Neotropical Skink," in allusion to the distribution of the included species (frenata) in southern South America. 
References
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