Lankascincus dorsicatenatus (DERANIYAGALA, 1953)
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Lankascincus dorsicatenatus
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Ristellinae (Ristellini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Sphenomorphus dorsicatenatus DERANIYAGALA 1953: 53 Lankascincus dorsicatenatus — GREER 1991 Sphenomorphus dorsicatenatus — DAS 1996: 48 Lankascincus dorsicatenatus — BATUWITA & PETHIYAGODA 2007 Lankascincus dorsicatenatus — BATUWITA 2019: 232 |
| Distribution | Sri Lanka Type locality: Angamana, near Nivitigala; neotype locality: Batadombalena near Kuruwita (6°46’35’’ N 80°23’45’’ E; WGS84, alt. 390 m a.s.l.; 20 airline km from the holotype’s locality), Ratna- pura District, Sabaragamuwa Province, Sri Lanka. |
| Reproduction | oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Neotype. WHT 6619, adult female, SVL 42.0 mm, collected by K. Manmendra-Arachchi and M. M. Bahir on 05 January 1998; neotype designated by Danushka et al. 2022. Holotype: lost (fide Greer, 1991; Batuwita and Pethiygoda, 2007, Batuwita 2019: 237); paratypes in NMSL and BMNH (Amarasinghe et al. plan to designate RSK 307 as neotype, A. Amarasinghe, pers. comm., 23 Sep 2020). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Lankascincus dorsicatenatus is distinguished from all other species of Lankascincus by the following combination of characters: prefrontals in contact; second supraocular larger than others; second supraocular broad; fourth supraocular slightly contacting with frontoparietal; frontoparietal smaller than frontal; frontoparietals two; supraciliaries 9–11; primary temporals two; secondary temporals two, separated; supralabials seven; last supralabial smaller than the preceding supralabial; postsupralabials two; paravertebrals 40–46, equal in size; ventral scales 49–57; transverse scale rows across mid-body 26– 28; two rows of supradigital scales on digits; subdigital lamellae under fourth digit of manus 10–13; subdigital lamellae under fourth digit of pes 15–19; maximum SVL 45.0 mm; adpressed limbs non-overlapping; general body color of male olive brown, ventral side yellowish brown; males lack a dorsolateral stripe; females with a one-scalewide light-brown dorsolateral line and a catenated mid-dorsal coloration pattern (Batuwita 2019: 233). |
| Comment | Greer 1991 speculated that Sphenomorphus dorsicatenatus might be synonymus with any of four Sri Lankan Lankascincus. This problem can not be solved, however, until the type specimen of dorsicatenatus are found. Batuwita & Pethiyagoda (2007) found the paratypes in the NMSL and noted that “Sphenomorphus dorsicatenatus is distinguished from L. greeri by having the secondary temporals separated by the upper primary temporal (vs secondary temporals in contact) and possessing only a single (vs 2) post-supralabials.” These authors consider this species to be valid. |
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