Scincella alia BRAGIN, ZENIN, NGUYEN & POYARKOV, 2025
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Scincella alia?
Scincella alia
We have no photos, try to find some by Google images search: 
| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Tay Con Linh Ground Skink Vietnamese: Thằn lằn cổ Tây Côn Lĩnh |
| Synonym | Scincella alia BRAGIN, ZENIN, NGUYEN & POYARKOV in BRAGIN et al. 2025 |
| Distribution | NE Vietnam (Ha Giang) Type locality: Chieu lau Thi (also kieu lieu Ti) Mountain within Tay Con linh range in Ho Thau Commune, Hoang Su Phi District, Ha Giang Province, northeastern vietnam (22.65997°N, 104.60969°E; elevation 2094 m asl.) |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. ZMMu re-18147 (field no. NAP-15700) (Figs. 3–6), adult male, collected by A. M. Bragin on March 14, 2024. Paratypes (n=8). Eight individuals were collected from the same locality as the holotype, including four adult males vrTC NAP15694 (field no. NAP-15694), vrTC NAP15699 (field no. NAP-15699), ZMMu re-18150 (field no. NAP-15701) and vrTC NAP15702 (field no. NAP-15702); and four adult females ZMMu re-18148 (field no. NAP-15695), vrTC NAP15696 (field no. NAP-15696), ZMMu re-18149 (field no. NAP-15697), and vrTC NAP15698 (field no. NAP-15698). referred materials (n=6). Six individuals, including adult male vrTC NAP14089 (field no. NAP-14089); two adult females vrTC NAP14081 (field no. NAP-14081) and vrTC NAP14092 (field no. NAP-14092); and three subadult individuals vrTC NAP14084 (field no. NAP-14084), vrTC NAP14085 (field no. NAP-14085), and vrTC NAP14087 (field no. NAP-14087) from Tay Con linh Mountain within Tay Con linh range in Cao Bo Commune, vi Xuyen District, Ha giang Province of northeastern vietnam (22.80169°N, 104.8068°E; elevation 2369 m asl.) collected by A. M. Bragin and N. A. Poyarkov on April 20–24, 2023. Six individuals, including adult male ZMMu re-18154 (field no. NAP-14090); three adult females ZMMu re-18153 (field no. NAP-14088), ZMMu re-18155 (field no. NAP-14091), and ZMMu re-18156 (field no. NAP-14093); and two subadult individuals ZMMu re-18151 (field no. NAP-14082) and ZMMu re-18152 (field no. NAP-14083) from Tay Con linh Mountain within Tay Con linh range in Cao Bo Commune, vi Xuyen District, Ha giang Province of northeastern vietnam (22.80169°N, 104.8068°E; elevation 2369 m asl.) collected by A. M. Bragin and N. A. Poyarkov on April 20–24, 2023. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. Scincella alia sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from all other congeners by the following unique combination of morphological features: (1) slender, medium-sized body, snout-vent length 38.2–48.2 mm; (2) prefrontals separated from each other; (3) infralabials seven; (4) supraciliaries six; (5) two preoculars, three presuboculars, two postoculars, three postsuboculars; (6) supralabials separated from the eye by a row of small scales; (7) tympanum deeply recessed without lobules; (8) midbody scale rows 26 (rarely 28); (9) dorsal scales smooth, slightly enlarged, with 56–63 paravertebral scale rows, 66–76 ventral scale rows (including gulars); (10) upper edge of the lateral longitudinal stripes relatively straight, with four rows of dorsal scales in the middle; (11) enlarged, undivided lamellae beneath finger Iv 7–10; (12) enlarged, undivided lamellae beneath toe Iv 11–13; (13) ventral surface of head and belly lacking black spots, ventral surface of tail ornamented with dark spots; (14) dorsal surface of body grayish brown with small dark and pale spots; (15) ventral surface of throat, belly, and base of tail ranging from cream yellow in females to lemon yellow in males. (Bragin et al. 2025) Unfortunately 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 25100 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Named after latin “alius” (“alia” in feminine gender), meaning “another” or rather “different one.” This name is given in reference to the fact that this species represents yet another representative of the Scincella potanini-monticola complex, which all are morphologically quite similar to each other. |
| References |
|
| External links |