Scelotes bidigittatus FITZSIMONS, 1930
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Scelotes bidigittatus?
Scelotes bidigittatus
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Lowveld Dwarf Burrowing Skink |
| Synonym | Scelotes bidigittatus FITZSIMONS 1930: 34 Herpetosaura bidigittata — WITTE & LAURENT 1943 Scelotes bidigittata — GREER 1970 Scelotes bidigittatus — BROADLEY 1994 Scelotes bidigittatus — BATES et al. 2014: 270 |
| Distribution | Republic of South Africa (NE Transvaal lowveld, between Soutpansberg and Olifants River), S Mozambique ?, Natal (south to Maputaland) Type locality: Farm Madrid on Brak River, E. Transvaal |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Holotype: DNMNH (= TM) (= TMSA) 12921 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Broadley 1994: 245 Original description: Snout more or less obtuse, projecting but slightly beyond labial margin; lower eyelid scaly; ear-opening very minute and only just distinguishable; supra-nasals form a median suture, in contact with first labial; fronto-nasal five-sided, much broader than long; frontal much longer than broad, roughly bell-shaped, and just over one and two-thirds as long as fronto-nasal; four supra-oculars, first largest and last by far the smallest, the three anterior in contact with frontal; five supra-ciliaries; interparietal the largest head shield, slightly shorter than frontal but considerably broader, anterior border slightly concave while posterior border is strongly convex; parietals narrow and band-like, in contact with fourth supra-ocular, and meeting in the median line immediately behind the interparietal; adjacent to these band-like parietals are a pair of elongated temporals, not meeting in middle line; fourth upper labial lying just below eye, not quite as long as second and third labial together. Twenty scales round the body. Fore limbs absent; hind limbs present, but small and rudimentary, provided with two minute clawed digits, outer of which is much larger than the inner; tail slightly longer than head and body. (FITZSIMONS 1930) COLOUR. (Spirit specimen.) Dorsally mummy brown, each scale with a dark centre; a well-defined lateral band runs from snout, through supra oculars continuing down body and tail, avellaneous on head and body, passing to bluish on tail. Ventrally greyish, each scale with a large dark centre arranged symmetrically and giving a longitudinal striped effect, this latter not so apparent on tail. (FITZSIMONS 1930) |
| Comment | Limb morphology: Belongs to the didactyle S. bidigittatus group. This species lost its forelimb entirely and retains only two digits on the hind limb. |
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