Brasiliscincus agilis (RADDI, 1823)
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Brasiliscincus agilis
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Mabuyinae (Mabuyini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Portuguese: Briba, Calango-Liso, Cobra-de-Vidro, Lagartixa-de-Vidro, Lagarto-Liso |
| Synonym | Scincus agilis RADDI 1823: 62 Mabouya aenea GRAY 1845: 94 (fide GÜNTHER 1885) Mabuia agilis — GÜNTHER 1885: 33 Mabuia agilis — GÜNTHER 1888: 364 Mabuia agilis — GOELDI 1902: 534 (part) Mabuya agilis agilis — AMARAL 1937: 1743 (part) Mabuya agilis — VRCIBRADIC et al. 2003 Brasiliscincus agilis — HEDGES & CONN 2012: 57 |
| Distribution | Brazil (from Ceara state to Rio de Janeiro state, along the coastal lowlands and slopes of adjacent mountain ranges, Espírito Santo, Bahia). Type locality: Rio de Janeiro |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Holotype: MZUF (= MRF) (not located), collected by G. Raddi. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (genus). Species in this genus are characterized by (1) frontoparietals, two, (2) supraciliaries, 5–6 (usually five), (3) supraoculars, four, (4) prefrontal contact, absent, (5) parietal contact, present, (6) rows of nuchals, one, (7) dorsals + ventrals, 113–124, (8) total digital lamellae, 157–194, (9) a dark middorsal stripe, absent, (10) dark dorsolateral stripes, usually present (rows of dark dots bordering a light mid-dorsal stripe two half-scales wide), (11) a dark lateral stripe, present, and (12) dark ventral striping, absent (Table 2). Maximum body sizes in this genus range from 88–96 mm SVL (Vrcibradic & Rocha 2011). Brasiliscincus differs from others in having a combination of dorsolateral dark and pale stripes, small hands and feet, short heads, and pale palms and soles. It differs from Alinea, Copeoglossum, Mabuya, Notomabuya, Psychosaura, and Varzea in having fewer total digital lamellae (< 195). It differs from Manciola in having more total lamellae (> 156), fewer dorsals + ventrals (113–124 versus 136–141), and more supraciliaries (5–6 versus four). From Maracaiba, Orosaura, and Exila (dark palms and soles) it differs in having pale palms and soles. From Exila, Notomabuya, and Panopa, it differs in having two frontoparietals (versus one fused frontoparietal in those other genera). In having four supraoculars, Brasiliscincus is separated from two genera with three supraoculars: Aspronema (rarely four) and Mabuya (rarely two or four). The presence of a single nuchal row (versus > 1) separates this genus from Exila, Panopa, and Spondylurus. The presence of contact between the parietals separates this genus from Copeoglossum. It differs from Alinea by having fewer finger-IV + toe-IV lamellae (24–27 versus 28–36), having dark lateral stripes (present as a trace in only one species of Alinea, A. berengerae), and lacking ventral striping. It is distinguished from Marisora by its 5–6 supraciliaries (versus four in nearly all Marisora). Brasiliscincus shares with Capitellum small hands and feet (as reflected in similarly low counts of finger-IV + toe- IV and total lamellae). Brasiliscincus differs from Capitellum in having pale (versus dark) palms and soles and fewer dorsals + ventrals (113–124 versus 125–128). |
| Comment | SMITH & TAYLOR (1950) synonymized this species with M. mabouya. M. agilis and M. heathi were clearly paraphyletic in a recent analysis by WHITING et al. (2006). Rodrigues (1990) implicitly suggested that M. agilis and M. heathi are conspecific and closely related to M. caissara, but did not comment the subject any further. Vrcibradic et al. (2006) suggest that the “agilis/caissara/heathi clade possibly represents a single widespread species” but do not propose explicitly to synonymize them. Type species: Scincus agilis Raddi 1823:62 is the type species of the genus Brasiliscincus HEDGES & CONN 2012. Pinto-Sánchez et al. (2015) suggested to synonymize the 3 species of Brasiliscincus (agilis, heathii, caissara) into 1 species, Mabuya agilis. |
| Etymology | Named after Latin “agilis” = mobile, agile, swift. The genus name (Brasiliscincus) is a masculine noun derived from the Latin scincus (skink) and refers to the distribution of this genus of skinks, centered in Brazil (Portuguese: Brasil). |
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