Tropidophorus laotus SMITH, 1923
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Tropidophorus laotus
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Laotian Keeled Skink G: Laos-Wasserskink |
| Synonym | Tropidophorus laotus SMITH 1923 Tropidophorus laotus — SMITH 1935: 325 Tropidophorus berdmorei — SMITH 1935: 325 Tropidophorus laotus — TAYLOR 1963: 989 Tropidophorus laotus — CHAN-ARD et al. 1999: 145 Tropidophorus laotus — HONDA et al. 2006 Tropidophorus laotus — STUART et al. in WCS 2024 Tropidophorus laotus — WANG et al. 2025 |
| Distribution | Thailand, Laos (Pak Lai district, fide SMITH 1935: 326) Type locality: “Muang Liep, N. of Pak Lai, Upper Mekong, French Laos” |
| Reproduction | ovoviviparous |
| Types | Lectotype NHMUK 1946.8.13.72 (field tag 5414), adult male from Muang Liep, North of Pak Lai, along the upper Mekong River in Xaignabouli (=Sainyabuli) Province, northwestern Laos, collected by M. A. Smith in between 1919 and 1920, designated by Wang et al. 2025. Paralectotype NHMUK 1946. 8.13. 71 (field tag 5410), adult male with same collecting data as the lectotype. Smith's collection numbers 5410, 5414), collected M.A. Smith. Additional specimens: NCSM 79105, 79479– 79481, NUOL 00521, from the vicinity of the type locality along the Mekong River in Xaignabouli and Paklay Districts, Xaignabouli Province, and Maat District, Vientiane Province, Laos, collected by by Bryan L. Stuart, Mark Bezuijen, Sengvilay Seateun, Niane Sivongxay, Khampong Thanonkeo between September 2011 and March 2012; NUOL 00963, 00959, 00986, 00984, NCSM 86793–86795, from areas near the Nam Lik Reservoir in Maat District, Vientiane Province, Laos (18.816E, 102.135N, elevation 325m), collected by Somphouthone Phimmachak, Bryan L. Stuart, Sengvilay Seateun, Niane Sivongxay, Khampong Thanonkeo, Monekham Davankham, Faithong Thongmaneevong, and Mui Vilaythong at night March–October 2015. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis Tropidophorus laotus can be diagnosed from congeners by a combination of the following characters: (1) body size small to moderate, SVL 68.3–78.6 mm in adults; (2) TAL 122.9%–142.6% SVL; (3) limbs short, short, FLL 24.3%– 31.2% SVL, HLL 37.1%–44.5% SVL; (4) head relatively narrow, HW 72.8%–85.5% HL, HD 55.5%–63.1% HW; (5) head and body scales smooth or only very feebly keeled in adults, keeled in juveniles; (6) supralabial five or six, with a distinct diagonally-running groove from second to fourth supralabials; (7) infralabial 4–6; (8) frontonasal divided; (9) loreal two, anterior loreal divided horizontally; (10) paravertebral scales not enlarged, 50–57; (11) midbody scale rows 32–36; (12) VEN 48–55; (13) F4S 13 or 14, T4S 18–22; (14) scale rows at 10th subcaudal 15–19; (15) dorsal background Drab (Color 19), with black-edged, Buff Yellow (Color 6) triangular shaped patches or streaks along vertebral line and black-edged, white spots along dorsolateral line; inferolateral head and lateral body heavily speckled with white small spots, with single white streak inferior of eye on supralabial; and (16) ventral head and neck white, speckled with drak gray vermiculated ventral body Light Chrome Orange (Color 76). (Wang et al. 2025) Additional details (6294 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Frank & Ramus erroneously gave “SMITH 1849” as author. Illustration: in DAS 2010, although on plate 36, the name Tropidophorus laotus Smith, 1923 is wrongly associated to a drawing of T. hangman, and vice versa. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. |
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