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Ristella rurkii GRAY, 1839

IUCN Red List - Ristella rurkii - Data Deficient, DD
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Ristellinae (Ristellini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Rurk's Ristella, Burke’s Catskink 
SynonymRistella rurkii GRAY 1839: 333
Ateuchosaurus travancoricus BEDDOME 1870: 33 (part.)
Ristella travancorica — BEDDOME 1871
Ristella malabarica STOLICZKA 1871: 195
Ristella rurkii — BOULENGER 1887: 357
Ristella rurkii — HORA 1927: 6
Ristella rurki — SMITH 1935: 331
Ristella rurkii — DAS 1996: 48
Ristella rurkii — GANESH — 2018 
DistributionIndia (Anaimalai Hills, Travancore and Palni Hills, Kerala)  
Reproductionoviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesNeotype: BMNH 1946.8.15.67, designated by Shea (2025). The holotype is now lost, formerly FPM; types on BMNH online catalogue listed as BMNH 1946.8.15.64-68. 
DiagnosisUnfortunately 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 1745 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentType species: Ristella rurkii GRAY 1839: 333 is the type species of the genus Ristella GRAY 1839. Ristella is also the type genus of the family Ristellidae Hedges & Conn 2012: 28 and of the tribus Ristellini Hedges 2014 (fide Shea 2021).

Phylogenetics: for a phylogenetic analysis of the position of Ristella see Ghosh et al. 2023.

Abundance: Rare. This is one of the species called 'lost' and 'rediscovered' by Lindken et al. 2024.

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyNamed after “Dr. Rurk”, who sent the holotype of this Indian skink to Gray. However, Shea (2025) argued that the species was likely named after Dr William Augustus Burke, the first Inspector-General of Hospitals in India,

The origin of the genus name remains unclear as it was not explicitly stated by Gray (1856), but likely to be a euphonious but meaningless combination of letters, as with many of Gray's generic names. 
References
  • Beddome, R.H. 1870. Descriptions of some new lizards from the Madras Presidency. Madras Monthly J. Med. Sci. 1: 30-35
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • 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
  • Ganesh, S.R. 2018. The rediscovery of Rurk’s Cat Skink Ristella rurkii Gray, 1839 (Reptilia: Ristellidae) with remarks on distribution and natural history. Journal of Threatened Taxa 10(10): 12376–12381; - 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. 1839. Catalogue of the slender-tongued saurians, with descriptions of many new genera and species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 2 (11): 331-337 [continued from page 293] - get paper here
  • Hora, S.L. 1927. Notes on lizards in the Indian Museum. III. On the unnamed collection of lizards of the family Scincidae. Records of the Indian Museum 29: 1-6
  • Lindken T.; Anderson, C. V., Ariano-Sánchez, D., Barki, G., Biggs, C., Bowles, P., Chaitanya, R., Cronin, D. T., Jähnig, S. C., Jeschke, J. M., Kennerley, R. J., Lacher, T. E. Jr., Luedtke, J. A., Liu, C., Long, B., Mallon, D., Martin, G. M., Meiri, 2024. What factors influence the rediscovery of lost tetrapod species? Global Change Biology, 30: 1-18 - 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, G. M. 2021. Nomenclature of supra-generic units within the Family Scincidae (Squamata) Zootaxa 5067 (3): 301–351 - get paper here
  • Shea, G. M. 2025. The Mysterious Doctor Rurk and His Eponymous Catskink, Ristella rurkii Gray 1839 (Squamata: Scincidae: Lygosominae: Ristellini) with Notes on Other Collectors for the Museum of the Army Medical Service at Chatham. Bibliotheca Herpetologica 19 (3):12–27 - 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.
  • Stoliczka, F. 1871. Notes on new or little-known Indian lizards. Proc. asiat. Soc. Bengal (Calcutta) 1871: 192-195 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
 
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