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Eremiascincus isolepis (BOULENGER, 1887)

IUCN Red List - Eremiascincus isolepis - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Northern Bar-lipped Skink, Short-legged Slender Skink 
SynonymLygosoma isolepis BOULENGER 1887: 234
Lygosoma (Hinulia) isolepis foresti KINGHORN 1932: 358
Lygosoma (Sphenomorphus) isolepis — SMITH 1937: 220
Lygosoma (Sphenomorphus) isolepis — GLAUERT 1960
Sphenomorphus isolepis — COGGER 1983: 185
Mawsoniascincus foresti — WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 34
Mawsoniascincus isolepis — WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 34
Glaphyromorphus isolepis — GREER 1990
Glaphyromorphus isolepis — COGGER 2000: 496
Glaphyromorphus isolepis — COUPER et al. 2006: 381
Eremiascincus isolepis — MECKE et al. 2009 
DistributionAustralia (Northern Territory, Western Australia)

Type locality: Nickol Bay and Swan River, W. A. (see note below).  
Reproductionoviparous (Mecke et al. 2016) 
TypesLectotype: BMNH 1946.8.17.14 (formerly 64.2.19.43) (Nickol Bay), designated by WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985. See also Storr (1967).
Holotype: AM R10001, from Forrest (as Forest) River, East Kimberley, W. A. [Lygosoma (Hinulia) isolepis foresti] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSynonymy partly after COGGER 1983.

Type species: Lygosoma isolepis BOULENGER 1887: 234 is the type species of the genus Mawsoniascincus WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 34.

Habitat: wooded habitats including creek lines and coastal environments

Limb morphology: 5 digits, 5 toes (Singhal et al. 2018, Brandley et al 2008) 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Greek isos (equal) plus lepis (scale), referring to the equally sized small body scales. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) 
References
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1887. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) III. Lacertidae, Gerrhosauridae, Scincidae, Anelytropsidae, Dibamidae, Chamaeleontidae. London: 575 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Couper, P., Covacevich, J., Amey, A. & Baker, A. 2006. The genera of skinks (Family Scincidae) of Australia and its island territories: diversity, distribution and identification. in: Merrick, J.R., Archer, M., Hickey, G.M. & Lee, M.S.Y. (eds.). Evolution and Zoogeography of Australasian Vertebrates. Australian Scientific Publishing, Sydney, pp. 367-384
  • D'Amore, Domenic Corvasce; David Meadows, Simon Clulow, Jeremiah Sean Doody, David Rhind, Colin McHenry 2018. Increasing dietary breadth through allometry: bite forces in sympatric Australian skinks. Herpetology Notes 11: 179-187 - get paper here
  • Ellis, Ryan J. and J. Sean Doody. 2014. Geographic Distribution: Eremiascincus isolepis (northern bar-lipped skink). Herpetological Review 45 (1): 91-92 - get paper here
  • Escoriza Boj, D. 2005. Australia. Reptiles and Amphibians, Part 2: Desert and tropical savanna. Reptilia (GB) (41): 52-57 - get paper here
  • Glauert, L. 1960. Herpetological miscellanea. XII. The family Scincidae in Western Australia. Pt. 2. The genus Lygosoma. Western Australian Naturalist 7 (4): 81-99 - get paper here
  • Greer A E 1990. The Glaphyromorphus isolepis species group (Lacertilia: Scincidae): diagnosis of the taxon and description of a new species from Timor. Journal of Herpetology 24 (4): 372-377 - get paper here
  • Jolly, C., Schembri, B., & Macdonald, S. 2023. Field Guide to the Reptiles of the Northern Territory. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne - get paper here
  • Kinghorn, J. R. 1932. Herpetological notes 4. Rec. Austral. Mus. 18: 335-363 - get paper here
  • Mecke, S., M. Kieckbusch, T. Graf, L. A. Beck, M. O’Shea & H. Kaiser 2016. First captive breeding of a night skink (Scincidae: Eremiascincus) from Timor-Leste, Lesser Sunda Islands, with remarks on the reproductive biology of the genus. Salamandra 52 (2): 178-188 - get paper here
  • Mecke, S; Dougherty, P. & Donnellan, S.C. 2009. A new species of Eremiascincus (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) from the Great Sandy Desert and Pilbara Coast, Western Australia and reassignment of eight species from Glaphyromorphus to Eremiascincus. Zootaxa 2246: 1-20 - get paper here
  • Reeder, T.W. 2003. A phylogeny of the Australian Sphenomorphus group (Scincidae: Squamata) and the phylogenetic placement of the crocodile skinks (Tribolonotus): Bayesian approaches to assessing congruence and obtaining confidence in maximum likelihood inferred relationships. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27: 384–397 - get paper here
  • Singhal, Sonal; Huateng Huang, Maggie R. Grundler, María R. Marchán-Rivadeneira, Iris Holmes, Pascal O. Title, Stephen C. Donnellan, and Daniel L. Rabosky 2018. Does Population Structure Predict the Rate of Speciation? A Comparative Test across Australia’s Most Diverse Vertebrate Radiation. The American Naturalist 192 (4): 432-447 - get paper here
  • Skinner, Adam; Mark N. Hutchinson, Michael S.Y. Lee 2013. Phylogeny and Divergence Times of Australian Sphenomorphus Group Skinks (Scincidae, Squamata). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 69 (3): 906–918 - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1937. A review of the genus Lygosoma (Scincidae: Reptilia) and its allies. Records of the Indian Museum 39 (3): 213-234
  • Storr, G. M.; L. A. Smith, and R. E. Johnstone 1999. Lizards of Western Australia. I. Skinks. Revised Edition. Western Australian Museum
  • Storr,G.M. 1967. The genus Sphenomorphus (Lacertilia, Scincidae) in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Roy. Sco. West. Aust. 50 (1): 10-20
  • Storr,G.M. 1972. Revisionary notes on the Sphenomorphus isolepis complex (Lacertilia, Scincidae). Zoologische Mededelingen 47: 1-5 - get paper here
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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