Bougainville's skink

Bougainville's skink
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Scincomorpha
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Lerista
Species: L. bougainvillii
Binomial name
Lerista bougainvillii
(Gray, 1839)
Synonyms
  • Riopa Brougainvillii [sic] Gray, 1839
  • Lygosoma bougainvillii — A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1839
  • Rhodona bougainvillii
    — M.A. Smith, 1937
  • Nodorha bougainvillii
    — Mittleman, 1952
  • Lerista bougainvillii
    — Greer, 1967[1]

Bougainville's skink (Lerista bougainvillii) is a species of skink in the Scincidae family.[2] This species is also commonly called the south-eastern slider.[1][3]

Etymology

Both the specific name, bougainvillii, and the common name, Bougainville's skink, are in honor of French naval officer Hyacinthe de Bougainville.[3]

Geographic range

L. bougainvillii is found in south-eastern Australia, including north-eastern Tasmania and many Bass Strait islands.[2]

Description

Bougainville's skink has very reduced limbs and moves in a snake-like manner.[2]

Habitat

L. bougainvillii is seldom seen as much of its life is spent beneath leaf-litter, loose sand, and thin stone slabs.[2][4]

References

  1. 1 2 The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cogger HG. 1979. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Sydney: Reed. 608 pp. ISBN 0-589-50108-9.
  3. 1 2 Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Lerista bougainvillii, p. 33).
  4. ↑ Wildlife of Tasmania – Bougainville’s Skink

Further reading


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