Scincella badenensis NGUYEN, NGUYEN, NGUYEN & MURPHY, 2019
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Scincella badenensis
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Baden ground skink Vietnamese: Thằn lằn cổ bà đen, locally “Rắn mối bà đen” |
| Synonym | Scincella badenensis NGUYEN, NGUYEN, NGUYEN & MURPHY 2019: 278 |
| Distribution | Vietnam (Tay Ninh) Type locality: Ba Den Mountain, Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam; coordinates 11°22’01.6” N, 106°10’26.4” E; elevation 74 m a.s.l. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. ITBCZ 5966, adult male, collected by Sang N. Nguyen and Vu D.H. Nguyen, on 25 June 2017 (Figs. 3&4). Paratypes. Six specimens, also collected from Ba Den Mountain by Sang N. Nguyen and Vu D.H. Nguyen: ITBCZ 5878, adult male (Figs. 5A&B) and ITBCZ 5879, gravid female (Fig. 5I), collected on 24 March 2017, coor- dinates 11°22’14.5” N, 106°10’45.3” E, elevation 130 m a.s.l.; ITBCZ 5965 (Figs. 5C&D) and ITBCZ 5967 (Figs. 5E&F), adult males, same data as the holotype; ITBCZ 5993, gravid female (Fig. 5J), collected on 25 June 2017, coordinates 11°22’11.1” N, 106°09’58.9” E, elevation 254 m a.s.l.; and ITBCZ 6262, adult male (Figs. 5G&H), collected on 22 January 2018, coordinates 11°22’41.9” N, 106°10’69.3” E, elevation 810 m a.s.l. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Scincella badenensis sp. nov. is distinguished from all of its congeners by a combination of the following morphological characters: medium size in adults (SVL up to 64.4 mm); toes reach to fingers when limbs adpressed; 32–36 smooth midbody scale rows; dorsal scales not enlarged; 67–71 paravertebral scales; 68–74 ventral scale rows; four supraoculars; prefrontals in broad contact with one another; two loreal scales; seven, rarely eight, supralabials, the fifth, rarely sixth, below the center of the eye; two anterior and two or three posterior enlarged temporal scales; tympanum deeply sunk, no auricular lobules; smooth lamellae beneath finger IV and toe IV 10–11 and 18–20, respectively; two enlarged precloacal scales; hemipenes smooth, short, symmetrical, and forked near the tip, each lobe ended with a small papilla; no dorsal pattern in male; female with black interruptive vertebral line. |
| Comment | Sexual dimorphism. Males are larger than females (SVL to 64.4 mm vs. 53.8 mm) and have pure dorsum (without vertebral line or dorsal dots) as well as a pale dorsolateral band formed by sparse black blotches while females have interruptive black vertebral line and bold and dense dorsolateral band. Habitat: All specimens were collected in rocky areas with rotting leaves, elevations between 74 m and 810 m a.s.l. in both dry and wet seasons. Scincella badenensis sp. nov. was usually observed to be active in daytime on rocky walls (approx. 2 m height) or on surface of rotting leaf layer in caves or between rocks. Sympatry: Sphenomorphus maculatus (Blyth), Lygosoma bowringii (Gunther), Eutropis multifasciata (Kuhl), and Lipinia vittigera (Boulenger). |
| Etymology | The specific epithet badenensis is a toponym derived from the Ba Den Mountain where the new species was discovered. |
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