| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Caraballo Mountains loam-swimming skink |
| Synonym | Brachymeles muntingkamay SILER, RICO, DUYA & BROWN 2009
Brachymeles muntingkamay — SILER et al. 2011 |
| Distribution | Philippine Island (C Luzon), elevation 1400–1450 m.
Type locality: at 1424 m elevation on Mt. Palali (16° 26’ 21.9’’ N, 121° 13’ 24.1’’ E; WGS-84) Barangay Maddiangat, Municipality of Quezon, Nueva Vizcaya Province, Luzon Island, Philippines
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| Reproduction | viviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: PNM 9566, adult female; field no. ELR 1388, formerly KU 308923), collected at 10:00 hr on 23 March 2007 by Edmond L. Rico. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Brachymeles muntingkamay can be distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: (1) presence of limbs, (2) three digits on forelimbs and hindlimbs, (3) small body size, SVL less than 85 mm, (4) pineal eye spot absent, (5) auricular openings absent, (6) prefrontals in contact, (7) frontoparietals not in contact, (8) postnasals absent, (9) postmental wider than mental, (10) first pair of chin shields not in contact, (11) scale spots covering body, (12) midbody scale rows 22–24, (13) paravertebral scale rows 85– 90, (14) six supralabials, and (15) six infralabials.
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| Comment | Limb morphology: Species with reduced limbs.
Sympatric skinks: Eutropis multicarinata borealis, Lamprolepis smaragdina, Sphenomorphus jagori, and S. beyeri.
Habitat: semifossorial and typically found in dry, rotting material inside or underneath decaying logs or in loose soil, forest floor detritus, and leaf litter of lowland forest. |
| Etymology | The name of the new species is derived from the Tagalog (Filipino) terms ‘‘munti,’’ meaning small, and ‘‘kamay,’’ meaning hand, to represent the species’ small, reduced limbs, and reduced number of digits. |
| References |
- Brown, R.M.; C.H. Oliveros; C.D. Siler; J.B. Fernandez; L.J. Welton; P.A.C. Buenavente; M.L.L. Diesmos; A.C. Diesmos 2012. Amphibians and Reptiles of Luzon Island (Philippines), VII: Herpetofauna of Ilocos Norte Province, Northern Cordillera Mountain Range. Check List 8(3):469-490 - get paper here
- Brown; Rafe; Cameron Siler, Carl Oliveros, Luke Welton, Ashley Rock, John Swab, Merlijn Van Weerd, Jonah van Beijnen, Dominic Rodriguez, Edmund Jose, Arvin Diesmos 2013. The amphibians and reptiles of Luzon Island, Philippines, VIII: the herpetofauna of Cagayan and Isabela Provinces, northern Sierra Madre Mountain Range. ZooKeys 266 (2013) Special Issue: 1-120<br>doi: 10.3897/zookeys.266.3982 - get paper here
- Davis, Drew R.; Kathryn D. Feller, Rafe M. Brown, and Cameron D. Siler 2014. Evaluating the Diversity of Philippine Slender Skinks of the Brachymeles bonitae Complex (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae): Redescription of B. tridactylus and Descriptions of Two New Species. Journal of Herpetology 48 (4): 480-494. - get paper here
- Gojo-Cruz, Paul Henric P. and Leticia E. Afuang 2018. The Zoogeographic Significance of Caraballo Mountain Range, Luzon Island, Philippines With Focus on the Biogeography of Luzon’s Herpetofauna. Philippine Journal of Science 147 (3): 393-409 - get paper here
- GOJO-CRUZ, Paul Henric P.; Leticia E. AFUANG, Juan Carlos T. GONZALEZ and William SM. GRUEZO 2018. Amphibians and Reptiles of Luzon Island, Philippines: the Herpetofauna of Pantabangan-Carranglan Watershed, Nueva Ecija Province, Caraballo Mountain Range. Asian Herpetological Research 9(4): 201–223 - get paper here
- Siler, Cameron D.; Arvin C. Diesmos, Angel C. Alcala and Rafe M. Brown 2011. Phylogeny of Philippine slender skinks (Scincidae: Brachymeles) reveals underestimated species diversity, complex biogeographical relationships, and cryptic patterns of lineage diversification. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 59 (1): 53-65 - get paper here
- Siler, Cameron D.; Edmond L. Rico, Mariano R. Duya, and Rafe M. Brown 2009. A NEW LIMB-REDUCED, LOAM-SWIMMING SKINK (SQUAMATA: SCINCIDAE: BRACHYMELES) FROM CENTRAL LUZON ISLAND, PHILIPPINES. Herpetologica 65 (4): 449 - get paper here
- Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
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