Sphenomorphus luelaiorum WANG, LIN, TSENG, POYARKOV & LIN, 2025
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Sphenomorphus luelaiorum
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E; Lue and Lai’s ground skink’’ in Chinese: 呂賴氏蜓蜥’’ (Lü Lài Shì Tíng Xī) |
| Synonym | Sphenomorphus luelaiorum WANG, LIN, TSENG, POYARKOV & LIN 2025 Sphenomorphus taiwanensis — LUE et al. 1999: 156 [partim] Sphenomorphus taiwanensis — SHANG 2001: 135–137 [partim] Sphenomorphus taiwanensis — LUE et al. 2002: 156–157 [partim] Sphenomorphus taiwanensis — SHANG 2007: 116–177 [partim] Sphenomorphus taiwanensis — SHANG 2008: 135–137 [partim] Sphenomorphus taiwanensis — SHANG et al. 2009: 216–217 [partim] |
| Distribution | Taiwan Type locality: Qilan, Yilan County, Taiwan (24.5904358N, 121.4120098E; datum = WGS84 in all cases) at an elevation of 1,713 m above sea level (a.s.l.) |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. NMNS 19592 (Figs. 8, 9A), adult female in a good state of preservation, collected by Y.T. Wang on 2 May 2018.The type locality (Fig. 11) is characterized as an evergreen mid-elevation cloud forest, predominated by a mix of broadleaf trees (family Fagaceae) and conifers (Chamaecyparis formosensis). The specimen was located beneath a rock in close proximity to a forest trail. Paratypes (n 5 12). Four males and eight females in total. Males: NMNS 19593 (Fig. 9B), 19594, 19597 collected from Qilan, Yilan County (24.54398N, 121.40098E); NMNS 19601 collected from Siyuan, Yilan County (24.38788N, 121.34738E). Females: NMNS 19595, 19596, 19598, 19599, 19600 collected from Qilan, Yilan County (24.56888N, 121.41298E); NMNS 19602, 19603 collected from Siyuan, Yilan County (24.37008N, 121.34018E); and NMNS 19604 collected from Fuxing, Taoyuan County. All the above-mentioned specimens were collected by YTW during 2017 and 2018. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis:—Sphenomorphus luelaiorum sp. nov. is a smallsized gracile skink with SVL of adult males ranging between 37.24–42.90 mm; of adult females between 38.44–47.39 mm; and tail length ranging 57.8–66.2 mm of total length. The new species can be separated from all other congeners by having the following combination of morphological characters: head, body, and caudal scales smooth; supranasals present, separated by frontonasal; prefrontals two, separated by frontonasal and frontal; frontal elongated, in contact with first superciliary, first and second supraoculars laterally; frontoparietals two; interparietal large, diamond-shaped, in contact with frontoparietals anteriorly and parietals posteriorly; parietals two, in contact posterior to interparietal; supraoculars generally four, occasionally five (7.7% among examined individuals, with the following percentages having the same definition); supralabials seven (69.2%) to six (30.8%); infralabials six; chin shields in three pairs, anterior pair in contact; nuchals four; followed by one (7.7%), two (46.2%), or three (46.2%) pairs of enlarged dorsals with similar size, arranged in two parallel rows behind nuchals; followed by usually four rows of dorsals between dorsolateral dark stripes, all similar in size; paravertebral scales in 55–68 rows (60.5 6 4.4; hereafter values given for mean 6 1 SD); ventrals in 62–70 (64.8 6 2.4) longitudinal rows between the first pair of chin shields and precloacal scales; midbody scale rows 24 (100%); 1⁄2 þ 4 þ 1⁄2 transverse dorsal scale rows between dorsolateral dark stripes (100%); six transverse ventral scale rows between the limbs; caudal scales in 10–13 (11.7 6 1.0) rows around the tail at the level of the 10th subcaudal; the central subcaudal row enlarged; eight (38.5%) to nine (61.5%) subdigital lamellae beneath fourth finger; 11 (46.2%) to 12 (53.8%) subdigital lamellae beneath fourth toe. (Wang 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 15193 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Named after two famous Taiwanese herpetologists, Professor Kuang-Yang Lue and Dr. Jun-Shiang Lai, in recognition of their significant contributions to herpetological studies in Taiwan, especially regarding high mountain Hynobius salamanders. |
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