West Canary skink

West Canary skink
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata
Family:Scincidae
Genus:Chalcides
Species: C. viridanus
Binomial name
Chalcides viridanus
(Gravenhorst, 1851)

The West Canary skink or lisa dorada (Chalcides viridanus) is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. It is found only on Canary Islands. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, temperate grassland, rocky areas, rocky shores, sandy shores, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, and urban areas where they're found in altitudes up to 2,000 m. They reach about 18 cm in length. They are active during days and the dusk. Both their life in nature and their requirements in a terrarium are very similar to the Gran Canaria skink.

Subspecies

  • Chalcides viridianus viridianus, Tenerife, El Hierro, Roque de Garachico, Roque de Agna
  • Chalcides viridianus coeruleopunctatus, La Gomera

References

  • Brown, R.P., Thorpe, R.S. and Báez, M., 1991. Parallel within-island microevolution of lizards on neighbouring islands. Nature, 352(6330), p. 60.
  • Brown, R.P., R. S. Thorpe and M. Báez, M., 1993. Patterns and causes of morphological population differentiation in the Tenerife skink, Chalcides viridanus. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 50(4): 313-328.
  • Brown, R. P. and J. Pestano. 1998. Phylogeography of Canary Island skinks inferred from mtDNA sequences. Molecular Ecology 7: 1183-1191.
  • Brown, R. P., R. Campos-Delgado and J. Pestano. 2000. Mitochondrial DNA evolution and population history of the Tenerife skink Chalcides viridanus. Molecular Ecology 9: 1061-1069.
  • Miras, J.A.M. & Pérez-Mellado, V. 2005. Chalcides viridanus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 10 July 2007.
  • Photo


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.