Algerian three-toed skink

Algerian three-toed skink
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Scinciformata
Infraorder:	Scincomorpha
Family:	Scincidae
Genus:	Chalcides
Species:	C. mertensi
Binomial name
Chalcides mertensi Klausewitz, 1954
Synonyms [2]
Chalcides chalcides ssp. mertensiKlausewitz, 1954

The Algerian three-toed skink (Chalcides mertensi) is a species of "grass-swimming skink", a lizard in the subfamily Scincinae of the family Scincidae. The species has an elongated serpentine shape and reduced limbs. It is native to north-western Africa.

Etymology

The specific name, mertensi, is in honor of German herpetologist Robert Mertens. ^{[2] [3] : 176}

Geographic distribution

Chalcides mertensi is native to northern Algeria and northern Tunisia, where it occurs on the Mediterranean coast. ^[1]

Habitat

The Algerian three-toed skink lives in forested areas in northern Algeria, and in semi-arid maquis-type habitats in Algeria and Tunisia. It prefers humid, sunny areas with dense vegetation within grassland, meadows, areas close to streams, hedges, open cork oak forest, and the edges of cultivated areas. It is also known from tall herbaceous grassland. The females give birth to formed young. ^[4] It has been recorded at elevations from sea level to 1,500 m (4,900 ft). ^[1]

Taxonomy

The Algerian three-toed skink was formerly considered to be as a subspecies of the Italian three-toed skink Chalcides chalcides , but it was raised to species status by Caputo (1993). ^[1] It has further been proposed that as molecular studies identified different lineages of the Algerian three-toed skink from samples in the northern and southern parts of its range in Tunisia and suggest there are at least two species present but recommended further research. ^[5] Another molecular study showed that this species was in a clade of Chalcides called the grass-swimming clade alongside Chalcides chalcides, Chalcides minutus and Chalcides mauritanicus , Chalcides guentheri , Chalcides pseudostriatus and Chalcides striatus , and it seems to be closest to eastern specimens of Chalcides minutus rather than Chalcides chalcides. ^[6]

Reproduction

Chalcides mertensi is viviparous. ^[2]

Conservation

The Algerian three-toed skink is listed as least concern but is threatened by habitat loss caused by overgrazing and the conversion of land to agricultural and urbanisation. It occurs in the Djurdjura National Park in Algeria but is not known to occur in any protected areas in Tunisia. ^[1]

References

1. Miras, J.A.M.; Joger, U.; Pleguezuelos, J.; Slimani, T.; El Mouden, H.; Geniez, P. (2006). "Chalcides mertensi ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2006: e.T61480A12476313. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2006.RLTS.T61480A12476313.en . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
2. Species Chalcides mertensi at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
3. Beolens, B.; Watkins, M.; Grayson, M. (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. xiii + 296. ISBN   978-1-4214-0135-5.
4. "Chalcides mertensi " (PDF). uicnmed.org. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
5. Giovannotti, Massimo; Cerioni, Paola Nisi; Splendiani, Andrea; Kalboussi, Mohsen; Ruggeri, Paolo; Barucchi, Vincenzo Caputo (2013). "Mitochondrial DNA reveals high genetic divergence between populations of Chalcides mertensi Klausewitz, 1954 (Reptilia: Scincidae) from Tunisia (abstract)". Amphibia-Reptilia. 34 (3): 389–399. doi: 10.1163/15685381-00002901 .
6. Carranza, S.; Arnold, E.N.; Geniez, P.; Roca, J.; Mateo, J.A. (2008). "Radiation, multiple dispersal and parallelism in the skinks, Chalcides and Sphenops with comments on Scincus and Scincopus and the age of the Sahara desert" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 46 (3): 1071–1094. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2007.11.018. PMID   18276164.

Further reading

• Busack, S.D. (1986). "Taxonomic implications of biochemical and morphological differentiation in Spanish and Moroccan populations of three-toed skinks, Chalcides chalcides (Lacertilia, Scincidae)". Herpetologica. 42 (2): 230–236.
• Kalboussi, M. (2022). "Data on the female reproduction of Chalcides mertensi Klausewitz, 1954 (Reptilia: Scincidae) from Tunisia". Zoology and Ecology. 32: 21–27.
• Klausewitz, W. (1954). "Eidonomische, taxonomische und tiergeographische Untersuchungen über den Rassenkreis der Scinciden Chalcides chalcides und Ch. striatus". Senckenbergiana Biologica. 35: 187–203. (Chalcides chalcides mertensi, new subspecies). (in German).
• Sindaco, R.; Jeremčenko, V.K. (2008). The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. (Monographs of the Societas Herpetologica Italica). Latina, Italy: Edizioni Belvedere. ISBN   978-88-89504-14-7. 580 pp.