Trachylepis striata

African striped skink
T. s. striata in Kruger NP, South Africa
T. s. wahlbergi at Lusaka, Zambia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata
Family:Scincidae
Genus:Trachylepis
Species: T. striata
Binomial name
Trachylepis striata
(W. Peters, 1844)
Synonyms[1]
  • Tropidolepisma striatum
    W. Peters, 1844
  • Mabuia striata
    — Boulenger, 1895
  • Mabuya striata
    — V. FitzSimons & Brain, 1958
  • Euprepes striata
    — Mausfeld et al., 2002
  • Trachylepis striata
    — Bauer, 2003

The African striped skink (Trachylepis striata), commonly called the striped skink, is a species of lizard in the skink family (Scincidae). The species is widespread in East Africa and Southern Africa. It is not a close relation to the Australian striped skink, Ctenotus taeniolatus.

Description

T. striata is brown or bronze-coloured with two yellowish stripes that run lengthwise on either side of the spine. Both sexes grow to a total length (including tail) of 25 cm (9.8 in).[2] Their tails are often missing due to predators.

Geographic range and subspecies

There are two races (subspecies) of T. striata, the nominate with an eastern, and wahlbergi with a southwesterly distribution:[3]

  • Trachylepis striata striata (W. Peters, 1844) – eastern striped skink
Range: South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, DRC, Malawi, southeastern Zambia, southeastern Zimbabwe, northeastern South Africa, Swaziland
  • Trachylepis striata wahlbergi (W. Peters, 1869) – Wahlberg’s striped skink
Range: southern Angola, northern Namibia, northern Botswana, Zambia, western and northern Zimbabwe, adjacent Zambezi valley in Mozambique[3]

Former races T. s. punctatissima and T. s. sparsa have been elevated to species level.[3]

Etymology

The subspecific name, wahlbergi, is in honour of Swedish Naturalist Johan August Wahlberg.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Trachylepis striata ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. ↑ Spawls S, Howell KM, Drewes RC (2006). Reptiles and Amphibians of East Africa. Princeton, New Jersy: Princeton University Press.
  3. 1 2 3 Hallermann, Jakob; Uetz, Peter. "Trachylepis striata (PETERS, 1844)". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  4. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Trachylepis wahlbergii, p. 278).

Further reading

  • Boulenger GA (1887). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III. ... Scincidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 575 pp. + Plates I-XL. (Mabuia striata, pp. 204–205; Mabuia wahlbergii, pp. 205–206).
  • Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Mabuya striata, pp. 156–157 + Plate 54).
  • Peters W (1844). "Über einege neue Fische und Amphibien aus Angola und Mozambique ". Bericht über die zur Bekanntmachung geeigneten Verhandlungen der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1844: 32-37. (Tropidolepisma striatum, new species, pp. 36–37). (in German).


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