Liopholis

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Liopholis
Egernia whitii.jpg
White's skink (Liopholis whitii)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Scinciformata
Infraorder: Scincomorpha
Family: Egerniidae
Genus: Liopholis
Fitzinger, 1843
Type species
Lygosoma moniligera
Species

15 species (see text)

Synonyms [1]

Flamoscincus
Wells & Wellington, 1984

Liopholis is a genus of lizards in the subfamily Egerniinae of the family Scincidae (skinks). [2] Species of the genus are found in the Australian region. They were previously placed in the genus Egernia . [1]

Contents

Description

Liopholis are smallish to largish-sized skinks. They may attain an adult snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 75–200 mm (3.0–7.9 in), with a bulky angular body. They have 34–52 rows of scales at midbody; the dorsal scales are usually smooth. The nasal scale has no postnarial groove; the subocular scale row is incomplete. The eyes are relatively large, and the eyelids usually have conspicuous cream-coloured margins. [1]

Species

There are 15 recognized species: [2]

ImageScientific NameCommon NameDistribution
Liopholis aputja Farquhar et al., 2024Central Ranges rock skinkNorth-western South Australia.
Liopholis guthega Donnellan, Hutchinson, Dempsey & Osborne, 2002Snowy Mountains skink, guthega skink, alpine egerniasouth-eastern Australia.
Liopholis inornata3.jpg Liopholis inornata (Rosén, 1905)desert egernia, unadorned desert-skink, "desert skink"central Western Australia, most of inland South Australia, southern Northern Territory, south-west Queensland, western New South Wales and a small part of north-west Victoria
Liopholis kintorei (Stirling & Zietz, 1893)Great Desert skinkNorthern Territory and Western Australia.
Liopholis margaretae (Storr, 1968)MacDonnell Ranges rock-skink, Flinder's Ranges rock-skinkcentral Australia.
Liopholis modesta (Storr, 1968)Eastern Ranges rock-skinkeastern Australia
Liopholis montana Donnellan, Hutchinson, Dempsey & Osborne, 2002montane rock-skink, mountain egernia, "mountain skink"south-eastern Australia
Liopholis multiscutata (Mitchell & Behrndt, 1949)bull skink, southern sand-skink, heath skinksouthern Australia
Liopholis parva (Aplin et al., 2024)north-western Australia
Liopholis personata (Storr, 1968)southern Australia
Liopholis pulchra (F. Werner, 1910)southwestern rock-skink, spectacled rock skink, Jurien Bay rock-skinksouth-western Australia
Liopholis purnululu (Aplin et al., 2024)north-western Australia
Liopholis slateri (Storr, 1968)Slater's desert skink, Centralian Floodplains desert-skink, Slater's egernia, Slater's skinkNorthern Territory and Southern Australia in central Australia
Liopholis striata (Sternfeld, 1919)night skink, nocturnal desert-skink, striated egerniawestern Australia
White's Skink, NSW.jpg Liopholis whitii (Lacépède, 1804) White's skink, White's rock-skinksouth-eastern Australia, including Tasmania and many Bass Strait islands

Nota bene : A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Liopholis.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gardner, Michael G.; Hugall, Andrew F.; Donnellan, Stephen C.; Hutchinson, Mark N.; Foster, Ralph (2008). "Molecular systematics of social skinks: phylogeny and taxonomy of the Egernia group (Reptilia: Scincidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 154 (4): 781–794. doi: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00422.x .
  2. 1 2 Liopholis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 20 September 2018.

Further reading