Sphenomorphus valentinae BRAGIN, GEISSLER, TROFIMETS, NEANG, LE, NGUYEN & POYARKOV, 2025
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Sphenomorphus valentinae
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Valentina’s dwarf skink Russian: Крохотный сцинк Валентины Vietnamese: Thằn lằn phê nô Va-len-ti-na G: Valentinas Zwergskink |
| Synonym | Sphenomorphus valentinae BRAGIN, GEISSLER, TROFIMETS, NEANG, LE, NGUYEN & POYARKOV 2025 |
| Distribution | Vietnam (Dak Lak) Type locality: Chu Yang Sin National Park, Bong Krang Commune, Lak District, Dak Lak Province, southern Vietnam (12.38750°N, 108.34417°E; elevation 761 m a.s.l.). |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. ZMMU Re-17931 (field number NAP-15886), adult male, collected by A. M. Bragin and N. A. Poyarkov on April 17, 2024.The holotype was found under the pine log on sandy soil near the path. Paratypes. Two males, ZMMU Re-17932 (field number NAP-15952) and VRTC NAP-15987 (field number NAP-15987) collected by A. M. Bragin and N. A. Poyarkov on April 19th and 29th, 2024, respectively, from the same locality in the altitude range from an elevation of 840 to 1138 m a.s.l. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: The new species, Sphenomorphus valentinae sp. nov., differs from other members of the genus Sphenomorphus by the combination of the following morphological characters: body size small (SVL 28.1–37.5 mm, TAL 49.4–62.3 mm); body gracile, elongated; limbs short, pentadactyl; ear opening concealed; head, body, and caudal scales smooth; supranasals and postnasals absent; lower eyelid movable and covered with scales; prefrontals two, separated by frontonasal; supraoculars four; supraciliaries eight; preoculars forming a group of three scales; presuboculars two; primary temporals three; supralabials six, first fused with nasal; infralabials four; chin shields in three pairs; nuchals not enlarged, followed by four transverse dorsal scale rows located between dorsolateral dark stripes, all scales similar in size; paravertebral scales in 50–55 rows; ventral scales in 52–56 rows; midbody scale rows 18; the central subcaudal scale row enlarged; five subdigital lamellas under the fourth finger; six subdigital lamellas under the fourth toe; dorsal surfaces of body, head and tail brown-beige, iridescent, with dark gray spots forming four thin longitudinal lines disappearing on the tail; venter, lower flanks, ventral region of the neck and tail from light brown to grayish pink, with dark spots disappearing on the belly; light sand-colored dorsolateral stripe running from the posterior edge of the eye to the tail there; ventrally edged with a contrasting dark lateral stripe running along the body flanks to the tail base. (Bragin et al. 2025) 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 12028 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | No Zoobank registration mentioned in the paper. |
| Etymology | Named after Dr. Valentina F. Orlova, the head and main curator of the Herpetology department of the Zoological Museum of Lomonosov Moscow State University (ZMMU). |
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