Scincella fansipanensis OKABE, MOTOKAWA, KOIZUMI, NGUYEN, NGUYEN, & BUI, 2024

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Higher Taxa	Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Fansipan ground skink Vietnamese: Thằn lằn cổ fansipan
Synonym	Scincella fansipanensis OKABE, MOTOKAWA, KOIZUMI, NGUYEN, NGUYEN, & BUI 2024: 410 Scincella fansipanensis — XU et al. 2025 Scincella fansipanensis — BRAGIN et al. 2025
Distribution	Vietnam (Lao Cai), China (Yunnan) Type locality: Mt. Fansipan, Hoang Lien Son Range, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam, 22.3269°N, 103.7756°E, at an elevation of 2347 m above sea level (a.s.l.).
Reproduction
Types	Holotype. IEBR R.5188, an adult male, collected on 2 May 2022 by S. Okabe. Paratypes. IEBR R.5185, 5186, 5189, 5191, 5192, adult females; IEBR R.5187 and 5193, adult males; IEBR R.5190 and 5194, juveniles; collected on 2 and 3 May 2022 by S. Okabe from Mt. Fansipan, Hoang Lien Son Range, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam, at 22.32699°N, 103.77486°E, 2366 m a.s.l. (IEBR R.5185, and 5186); 22.32693°N, 103.77569°E, 2347 m a.s.l. (IEBR R.5187); 22.32636°N, 103.77696°E, 2325 m a.s.l. (IEBR R.5189); 22.32651°N, 103.78013°E, 2298 m a.s.l. (IEBR R.5190); 22.32650°N, 103.77264°E, 2358 m a.s.l. (IEBR R.5191); 22.32636°N, 103.77696°E, 2325 m a.s.l. (IEBR R.5192, and 5193); and 22.32673°N, 103.78083°E, 2282 m a.s.l. (IEBR R.5194).
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: Scincella fansipanensis sp. nov. is distinguished from other congeners by a combination of the following morphological characteristics: size medium (SVL up to 59.0 mm; AG up to 36.5 mm); 22 (rarely 24) midbody scale rows, smooth; 60–68 paravertebral scale rows; 58–64 ventral scale rows; prefrontals separated from each other; five (rarely six) supraciliaries; two to six nuchals; ear opening present, tympanum deeply sunk, without lobules; limbs short, toe separated from finger when limbs adpressed; toe IV with 10–12 subdigital lamellae, smooth; and dorsal surface of body with irregularly shaped dark spots. (Okabe et al. 2024) 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 5600 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment
References	Bragin, A.M., Zenin, E.S., Dang, C.H., Dinh, T.V.A., Nguyen, T.V. & Poyarkov, N.A. 2025. A new mountain species of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata: Scincidae) from Ha Giang Province, northern Vietnam. Zootaxa 5636 (2), 201–236 - get paper here Bragin, A.M., Zenin, E.S., Le, S.X., Nguyen, D.T., Nguyen, T.V., Bobrov, V.V. & Poyarkov, N.A. 2025. Gold of the highlands: a new ground skink (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae: Scincella Mittleman, 1950) from southern Vietnam. Zootaxa 5701 (3): 247–291 - get paper here OKABE, S., MOTOKAWA, M., KOIZUMI, Y., NGUYEN, T. Q., NGUYEN, T. T., & BUI, H. T. 2024. A new species of the genus Scincella (Squamata: Scincidae) from Mount Fansipan, Hoang Lien Son Range, northwestern Vietnam. Zootaxa 5537(3), 407-423 - get paper here Xu Y, Gong Z, Nguyen TV, Deng J, Bragin AM, Weng S, Zhang T, Poyarkov NA, Peng L 2025. A new species of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata, Scincidae) from Guizhou Province, southwest China. ZooKeys 1258: 9-33 - get paper here Xu Y, Liao C, Poyarkov N, Weng S, Deng J, Bragin A, Zhang T, Tan N, Peng L 2025. First record of Scincella fansipanensis Okabe, Motokawa, Koizumi, Nguyen, Nguyen & Bui, 2024 (Squamata, Scincidae) from China. Biodiversity Data Journal 13: e161782 - get paper here Xu Y, Weng S, Poyarkov NA, Zhang T, Li Z, Deng J, Peng L 2025. Discovery of a new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata, Scincidae) from Guizhou Province, China. Zoosystematics and Evolution 101(4): 1495-1511 - get paper here
External links	Google images

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