Dravidoseps pruthi (SHARMA, 1977)
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Dravidoseps pruthi
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Lygosominae (Lygosomini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Pruthi’s (supple) skink, Pruthi’s leaf-litter skink |
| Synonym | Riopa pruthi SHARMA 1977 Lygosoma pruthi — DAS 1996: 46 Lygosoma pruthi — DAS 2003 Lygosoma cf. pruthi — GANESH & ARUMUGAM 2016 Subdoluseps pruthi — FREITAS et al. 2019 Dravidoseps pruthi — AGARWAL et al. 2024 |
| Distribution | India (Tamil Nadu) Type locality: Chitteri (= Sitteri), a hill range located near Dharmapuri, in Southern Eastern Ghats, lat. 11°50′N, long. 78°25′E |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Neotype: NRC-AA-1291 (AK-R 2222), adult female, from Sitteri Hills (11.90208°N, 78.51800°E; elevation ca. 880 m asl.), Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu State, India, collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Swapnil Pawar and team on 29th May 2022 (designated by Agarwal et al. 2024). The holotype: ZSI 22393, is considered lost (Das et al. 1998; Ganesh and Aengals 2018; Ganesh et al. 2021, Agarwal et al. 2024). Additional material (n = 9). NRC-AA-1292 (AK 803), NRC-AA-1293 (AK 804), and NRC-AA-1294 (AK 805), subadults, from Forest Department campus, Sitteri Hills (11.89152°N, 78.50747°E; elevation ca. 950 m asl.), Dharmapuri District, collected by Akshay Khandekar, Ishan Agarwal, Swapnil Pawar, Tejas Thackeray and team on 1st June 2019; BNHS 2525 (AK-R 2197), BNHS 2557 (AK-R 2198), BNHS 2558 (AK-R 2200), adult males, from Palamalai Hills (11.70744°N, 77.73598°E; elevation ca. 1000 m asl.); ZSI-R-28600 (AK-R 2201), subadult, from Palamalai Hills (11.73335°N, 77.73156°E; elevation ca. 600 m asl.), Salem District, same collectors as neotype, collected on 28th May 2022; ZSI-R-28601 (AK-R 2716), adult male, from Vanavasi Reserve Forest (11.75203°N, 77.84129°E; elevation ca. 520 m asl.), Salem District, same collectors as neotype, collected on 11th October 2022; ZSI-R-28602 (AK-R 2750), adult female, from north of Yercaud (11.90822°N, 78.18878°E; elevation ca. 650 m asl.), in Shevaroy Hills, Salem District, same collectors as neotype, collected on 15th October 2022. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (Dravidoseps). Medium-sized skinks (adult SVL < 58 mm; n = 89), original tail equal to or slightly longer than body. Dorsal scales on body and tail smooth, cycloid, imbricate; ventrals similar except marginally larger on pectoral and precloacal region; scales on lateral tail base smooth or tricarinate; 62–70 scales in paravertebral rows; 26–32 scales around mid-body; 61–73 ventral scales (rarely 76, n = 1/89); 8–12 enlarged precloacal scales (rarely 13, n = 1/89); and 18–23 scales round the tail. Supranasals in contact with each other behind rostral (rarely not in contact, n = 1/89); single frontonasal; prefrontals relatively small, widely separated on midline; frontal elongate, bell-shaped; four supraoculars; three supraoculars in contact with frontoparietal (rarely two, n = 4/89); frontoparietal divided; interparietal diamond-shaped, eyespot in posterior projection; parietals large, in medial contact posterior to interparietal; 2–4 nuchals, either in contact behind parietals or separated medially by 1–3 paravertebral scales. Nasal divided; two loreals; a single pre-supraocular; two preoculars (rarely three, n = 4/89); and a single sub-preocular (rarely absent, n = 5/89); 6–8 supraciliaries (rarely nine, n = 1/89); lower eyelid with enlarged, transparent central window; a single post-supraocular and postocular; and three or four sub-postoculars (rarely five, n = 3/89); a single primary, two secondary (rarely three, n = 1/89), and three tertiary (rarely four, n = 1/89) temporals. Six or seven supralabials and infralabials; fourth or fifth supralabial elongate, below eye; one or two post-supralabials; 1–3 ear lobules; three enlarged pairs of chin shields. Pentadactyl; limbs well-developed; subdigital lamellae unpaired, smooth to weakly keeled; 4–7 lamellae under digit I of manus and pes, 9–12 lamellae under digit IV of manus and 12–17 lamellae under digit IV of pes (rarely 18, n = 1/89). Viviparous, litter size 2–4. Dorsum light coconut to dark chocolate brown; thick dark band from rostrum to tail speckled with light spots; supralabials with a white streak; males with yellow on lower parts of forebody and flanks, sometimes extending onto belly; venter white with some darker markings (Fig. 9). Dravidoseps gen. nov. differs from Subdoluseps by the presence of a transparent central window in the lower eyelid (versus no transparent central window in the lower eyelid), by the presence of an open secondary palate (versus a closed secondary palate) and by being viviparous (versus oviparous) (Freitas et al. 2019; Zimin et al. 2021, Agarwal 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 11488 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Similar species: Subdoluseps nilgiriensis Type species: Riopa pruthi SHARMA 1977 is the type species of the genus Dravidoseps AGARWAL et al. 2024. |
| Etymology | Named after its collector Dr. Hem Singh Pruthi (1897-1969) an eminent entomologist from the erstwhile ‘Punjab’ (Lal, 1954; Beolens et al., 2011) The genus name Dravidoseps is a combination of the Sanskrit ‘Dravida’, referring to the original inhabitants of southern India and Sri Lanka, and the Ancient Greek ‘seps’, for a snake-like creature that has been previously used in skink generic names (e.g. Erens et al. 2017; Freitas et al. 2019). The gender of the genus is masculine and the suggested common name is Indian leaf-litter skinks. |
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