Scincella badenensis NGUYEN, NGUYEN, NGUYEN & MURPHY, 2019
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Scincella badenensis
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Baden ground skink Vietnamese: Thằn lằn cổ bà đen, locally “Rắn mối bà đen” |
| Synonym | Scincella badenensis NGUYEN, NGUYEN, NGUYEN & MURPHY 2019: 278 Scincella badenensis — NGUYEN et al. 2024 Scincella badenensis — NGUYEN et al. 2025 |
| Distribution | Vietnam (Tay Ninh) Type locality: Ba Den Mountain, Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam; coordinates 11°22’01.6” N, 106°10’26.4” E; elevation 74 m a.s.l. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. ITBCZ 5966, adult male, collected by Sang N. Nguyen and Vu D.H. Nguyen, on 25 June 2017 (Figs. 3&4). Paratypes. Six specimens, also collected from Ba Den Mountain by Sang N. Nguyen and Vu D.H. Nguyen: ITBCZ 5878, adult male (Figs. 5A&B) and ITBCZ 5879, gravid female (Fig. 5I), collected on 24 March 2017, coor- dinates 11°22’14.5” N, 106°10’45.3” E, elevation 130 m a.s.l.; ITBCZ 5965 (Figs. 5C&D) and ITBCZ 5967 (Figs. 5E&F), adult males, same data as the holotype; ITBCZ 5993, gravid female (Fig. 5J), collected on 25 June 2017, coordinates 11°22’11.1” N, 106°09’58.9” E, elevation 254 m a.s.l.; and ITBCZ 6262, adult male (Figs. 5G&H), collected on 22 January 2018, coordinates 11°22’41.9” N, 106°10’69.3” E, elevation 810 m a.s.l. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Scincella badenensis sp. nov. is distinguished from all of its congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: medium size in adults (SVL up to 64.4 mm); toes reach to fingers when limbs adpressed; 32–36 smooth midbody scale rows; dorsal scales not enlarged; 67–71 paravertebral scales; 68–74 ventral scale rows; four supraoculars; prefrontals in broad contact with one another; two loreal scales; seven, rarely eight, supralabials, the fifth, rarely sixth, below the center of the eye; two anterior and two or three posterior enlarged temporal scales; tympanum deeply sunk, no auricular lobules; smooth lamellae beneath finger IV and toe IV 10–11 and 18–20, respectively; two enlarged precloacal scales; hemipenes smooth, short, symmetrical, and forked near the tip, each lobe ended with a small papilla; no dorsal pattern in male; female with black interruptive vertebral line. 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 5947 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Sexual dimorphism. Males are larger than females (SVL to 64.4 mm vs. 53.8 mm) and have pure dorsum (without vertebral line or dorsal dots) as well as a pale dorsolateral band formed by sparse black blotches while females have interruptive black vertebral line and bold and dense dorsolateral band. Habitat: All specimens were collected in rocky areas with rotting leaves, elevations between 74 m and 810 m a.s.l. in both dry and wet seasons. Scincella badenensis sp. nov. was usually observed to be active in daytime on rocky walls (approx. 2 m height) or on surface of rotting leaf layer in caves or between rocks. Sympatry: Sphenomorphus maculatus (Blyth), Lygosoma bowringii (Gunther), Eutropis multifasciata (Kuhl), and Lipinia vittigera (Boulenger). |
| Etymology | The specific epithet badenensis is a toponym derived from the Ba Den Mountain where the new species was discovered. |
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