You are here » home search results Sphenomorphus melanopogon

Sphenomorphus melanopogon (DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1839)

Can you confirm these amateur observations of Sphenomorphus melanopogon?

Add your own observation of
Sphenomorphus melanopogon »

Find more photos by Google images search: Google images

Higher TaxaScincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common Names 
SynonymGongylus (Lygosoma) melanopogon DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 723
Scincus naevius DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839
Sphenomorphus melanopogon — FITZINGER 1843
Lygosoma florense WEBER 1890: 173
Lygosoma florense — LIDTH DE JEUDE 1895: 123
Lygosoma florense — BOULENGER 1897: 504
Lygosoma kühnei ROUX 1910
Sphenomorphus striolatus kuehnei
Lygosoma (Hinulia) florense — DE ROOIJ 1915: 173
Lygosoma kühnei — DE ROOIJ 1915: 190
Lygosoma melanopogon — DE ROOIJ 1915: 191
Sphenomorphus florensis — DUNN 1927
Sphenomorphus florensis barbouri DUNN 1927
Sphenomorphus florensis nitidus DUNN 1927
Sphenomorphus florensis barbouri DUNN 1927
Sphenomorphus florensis weberi DUNN 1927
Lygosoma melanopogon — SMITH 1935
Lygosoma (Sphenomorphus) florensis barbouri — BRONGERSMA 1942
Sphenomorphus florensis florensis — DAAN & HILLENIUS 1966: 132
Sphenomorphus florense — GREER & PARKER 1967
Sphenomorphus melanopogon — GREER 1974: 27
Sphenomorphus kuehnei — KRAMER 1979: 163.
Sphenomorphus melanopogon — WELCH, COOKE & WRIGHT 1990
Sphenomorphus melanopogon — READ 1998
Sphenomorphus florensis — GRISMER 2006 
DistributionIndonesia (Borneo etc)

Type locality: Nouvelle Hollande (in error for Timor); New Guinea.

florensis: Indonesia (Java, Flores, Timor, Komodo); Type locality: Sikka and Maumeri, Flores, Indonesia.

kuehnei: Indonesia: Kei Islands = Kai Islands, Banda, Babar; Type locality: Kei Islands  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: MNHN-RA (=MNHP) 1245, New Holland, collected Péron & Lesueur. Designation by Shea (2012), who also corrected the type locality to Timor. Other previous syntypes: MNHN-RA 1244 and MNHN-RA 7110, Timor (Musée de Leyde), and MNHN-RA 2974, New Ireland [MNHN catalogue indicated New Holland for that specimen and Quoy and Gaimard as collectors], fide Brygoo (1985). MNHN 1245 is also the lectotype of Scincus naevius.
Syntypes: ZMA.RENA 11056-58, ZMA.RENA 11059-64; Lectotype: ZMA.RENA 11060 [florense]
Lectotype: NMBA = NHMB 5514 (designated by Kramer 1979) [kuehnei]
Holotype: AMNH 32068; type locality Komodo [nitidus]
Holotype: AMNH 32203; type locality north coast of Wetar, near Uhak [barbouri]
Holotype: MCZ 20996 [= 2099, in error]; type locality Damma Island [= Pulau Damar] [weberi] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: This species can be readily differentiated from the majority of Sphenomorphus species by the combination of finely striate dorsal scales, the imbricate scales on the dorsal surface of the pes extending onto the plantar surface between the fourth and fifth digits, and three or more supraoculars contacting the frontal. It can be further differentiated from the few Sphenomorphus (all members of the variegatus group) with all of these character states by the combination of smoothly rounded subdigital lamellae, presence of auricular lobules and the postmental modally only contacting a single infralabial on each side. When present, the black throat is also a useful diagnostic character [SHEA 2012].


Additional details (2060 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentTypes: The type series of Lygosoma melanopogon Duméril and Bibron 1839 consists of four specimens representing three species, all of which have available junior synonyms. Two of the syntypes, MNHN 1245 and 7110 (Figs. 1–2), represent the species which has usually been referred to as S. florensis. The final specimen in the type series, MNHN 2974 (Fig. 3B), is typical of the Bismark Archipelago form of Sphenomorphus jobiensis (Meyer 1874).

Synonymy: SHEA 2012 synonymized Lygosoma florense WEBER 1890 (=
Sphenomorphus florensis including its subspecies) and S. kuehnei with S. melanopogon based on a lack of consistent differences in morphology and coloration.

Distribution: not in Sulawesi, fide Koch 2012: 317. For a map and list of localities see SHEA 2012: 11, 19.

Morphology: Most, if not all, Sphenomorphus lack visceral fat bodies (Greer 1986). 
EtymologyNamed after its black or dark (Greek melas, melan) tail (Greek “pogon”), which may or may not be black or even dark.

The name of the genus Sphenomorphus Fitzinger 1843 was derived from Greek “sphenos” (meaning wedge-shaped, an allusion to the shape of the head) and originally coined as masculine, hence species names need to be formed as masculine too (unless they are nouns in apposition). 
References
  • Auffenberg W 1980. The herpetofauna of Komodo, with notes on adjacent areas. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 25 (2): 39-156 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1898. A list of reptiles and batrachians from Ombaai, East Indian Archipelago. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 1: 122-124 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1897. List of the reptiles and batrachians collected by Mr. Alfred Everett in Lombok, Flores, Sumba and Saru, with descriptions of new species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) 19: 503-509 - get paper here
  • Brongersma,L.D. 1942. Notes on scincid lizards. Zoologische Mededelingen 24: 125-152 - get paper here
  • Daan, S. & Hillenius,D. 1966. Catalogue of the type specimens of amphibians and reptiles in the Zoological Museum, Amsterdam. Beaufortia 13: 117-144
  • de Rooij, N. de 1915. The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. Leiden (E. J. Brill), xiv + 384 pp. - get paper here
  • Duméril, A. M. C. and G. Bibron. 1839. Erpétologie Générale on Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Vol. 5. Roret/Fain et Thunot, Paris, 871 pp. - get paper here
  • Dunn, E. R. 1927. Results of the Douglas Burden Expedition to the Island of Komodo. III.- Lizards from the East Indies. American Museum Novitates (288): 1-13 - get paper here
  • Greer, A.E. 1974. The generic relationships of the scincid lizard genus Leiolopisma and its relatives. Australian Journal of Zoology 31: 1-67. - get paper here
  • Greer, A.E. 1986. On the absence of visceral fat bodies within a major lineage of scincid lizards. Journal of Herpetology 20 (2): 267-269 - get paper here
  • Greer,A.E. & Parker,F. 1967. A new scincid lizard from the northern Solomon Islands. Breviora (275): 1-20 - get paper here
  • Grismer, L. Lee 2006. Two new species of skinks (Genus Sphenomorphus Fitzinger 1843) from the Seribuat Archipelago, West Malaysia. Herpetological Natural History 9 (2): 151-162.
  • Grismer, L. Lee. 2008. A new species of insular skink (Genus Sphenomorphus Fitzinger 1843) from the Langkawi Archipelago, Kedah, West Malaysia with the first report of the herpetofauna of Pulau Singa Besar and an updated checklist of the herpetofauna of Pulau Langkawi. Zootaxa 1691: 53-66 - get paper here
  • Grismer, L.L. 2007. A new species of small montane forest floor skink (genus Sphenomorphus Fitzinger 1843) form Southern peninsular Malaysia. Herpetologica 63 (4): 544-551 - get paper here
  • Grismer, L.L.; Ahmad, N. & Kin Onn, C. 2009. A new, diminutive, upland Sphenomorphus Fitzinger 1843 (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex, Peninsular Malaysia. Zootaxa 2312: 27–38 - get paper here
  • Grismer, L.L.; Wood Jr., P.L. & Grismer, J.L. 2009. A New Insular Species of Skink of the Genus Sphenomorphus Strauch 1887 (Squamata: Scincidae) from Pulau Perhentian Besar, Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. Tropical Life Sciences Research, 20(1): 51–69 - get paper here
  • Iskandar D. 1994. New scincid lizard of the genus Sphenomorphus (Reptilia, Scincidae), from Java [S. puncticentralis]. Treubia 31 (1): 25-30. - get paper here
  • KENNEDI, UMAR F.; MIRZA D. KUSRINI, ANI MARDIASTUTI, AND ACHMAD ARIEFIANDY 2021. THE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES IN KOMODO NATIONAL PARK AND THE SURROUNDING AREA. Media Konservasi 26 (3): 217-230; DOI: 10.29244/medkon.26.3.217-230 - get paper here
  • Kramer, Eugen 1979. Typenkatalog der Echsen im Naturhistorischen Museum Basel (BM), Stand 1978. [type catalogue] Revue Suisse de Zoologie 86 (1): 159-166 - get paper here
  • Lidth de Jeude, Th. W. van. 1895. Reptiles from Timor and the neighbouring islands. Notes from the Leyden Museum 16: 119-127 - get paper here
  • Linkem, C.W.; Diesmos, A.C.; Brown, R.M. 2010. A NEW SPECIES OF SCINCID LIZARD (GENUS SPHENOMORPHUS) FROM PALAWAN ISLAND, PHILIPPINES. Herpetologica 66 (1): 67–79 - get paper here
  • Mertens, R. 1930. Die Amphibien und Reptilien der Inseln Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa und Flores. Senck. Naturf. Gesell., Frankfurt am Main, Abhandl. 42(3): 117-344.
  • Read, John L. 1998. Reptiles and amphibians of the Kau Wildlife Area near Madang: a valuable conservation resource. Science in New Guinea 23 (3): 145-152
  • Reilly, S. B., Karin, B. R., Stubbs, A. L., Arida, E., Arifin, U., Kaiser, H., ... & McGuire, J. A. 2022. Diverge and Conquer: Phylogenomics of southern Wallacean forest skinks (Genus: Sphenomorphus) and their colonization of the Lesser Sunda Archipelago. Evolution 76(10): 2281–2301. - get paper here
  • Roux,J. 1910. Reptilien und Amphibien der Aru- und Kei-Inseln. Abh. senckenb. naturf. Ges. (Frankfurt) 33: 211-247 - get paper here
  • Roux,J. 1911. Elbert-Sunda-Expedition des Frankfurter Vereins für Geographie und Statistik. Reptilien und Amphibien. Zool. Jahrb. Syst., Jena, 30 (5): 495-508 - get paper here
  • Schmidtler, J.F. 2013. Wiederentdeckung herpetologischer Beiträge von L. FiTZingER mit Beschreibungen neuer Taxa in F. Treitschkes (1842/1843) populärer Naturgeschichte “naturhistorischer Bildersaal des Thierreiches” (Amphibia, Reptilia). Herpetozoa 26 (1/2): 15 - 26 - get paper here
  • SHEA, G. M. 2021. Nomenclature of supra-generic units within the Family Scincidae (Squamata) Zootaxa 5067 (3): 301–351 - get paper here
  • SHEA, GLENN M. 2012. On the identity of the type species of Sphenomorphus (Squamata: Scincidae): Lygosoma melanopogon Duméril and Bibron 1839, with a note on a new scalation character of the pes in Sphenomorphus. Zootaxa 3490: 1–29 - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1935. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II. Sauria. Taylor and Francis, London, 440 pp.
  • ter Borg, J. 2005. Mariene herpetologie en enkele andere herpetologische waarnemingen op en rond Bali, Lombok en Komodo (Indonesië). Lacerta 63 (6): 242-256 - get paper here
  • Treitschke, R. (Hrsg.) 1839. Naturhistorischer Bildersaal des Thierreiches. nach William Jardine bearbeitet, nebst einem Vorworte von Karl Vogel; 4 Bände. Pesth & Leipzig (C. A. Hartleben), [1839, 1841, 1842, 1843 for the 4 volumes]
  • Weber, M. 1890. Reptilia from the Malay Archipelago. 1. Sauria, Crocodylidae, Chelonia. In: Zoologische Ergebnisse einer Reise in Niederländisch Ost-Indien 1: 158-177. M. Weber (Ed.). E. J. Brill, Leiden. - get paper here
  • Welch, K.R.G. 1982. Herpetology of the Old World 2. Preliminary comments on the classification of skinks (family Scincidae) with specific reference to those genera found in Africa, Europe and southwest Asia. Herptile 7 (4): 25
  • Welch, K.R.G., Cooke, P.S., & Wright, A.S. 1990. Lizards of the Orient: a checklist. Robert E. Krieger Pub. Co., Malabar, FL 162 pp.
 
External links  
Is it interesting? Share with others:

As link to this species use URL address:

https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Sphenomorphus&species=melanopogon

without field 'search_param'. Field 'search_param' is used for browsing search result.



Please submit feedback about this entry to the curator