Sunday, April 3, 2016

Lesser Windward Skink, Marisora aurulae (Family Scincidae)

Marisora aurulae Hedges & Conn 2012: 122
Mabuia agilis — Boulenger 1887:191 (part)
Mabuia aenea — Garman 1887:53 (part)
Mabuya mabouia — Barbour 1935:129 (part)
Mabuya mabouya mabouya — Dunn 1936:544 (part)
Mabuya bistriata — Powell et al. 1996:82 (part)
Mabuya sloanii — Mayer & Lazell 2000:883 (part)
Mabuya falconensis — Miralles et al. 2009:609 (part)
Mabuya mabouya — Henderson & Powell 2009:292 (part) 


Note. Pinto-Sanchez et al. (2015) proposed to maintain the genus Mabuya as a diverse taxon widely distributed throughout Central America, South America, and several Caribbean islands. According to their appraisal of species delimitation and diversity, there are 58 species within Mabuya including four candidate species revealed in the present study plus one candidate species proposed by Miralles et al. (2010). Of these, 23 named species do not have molecular data and were not evaluated here, suggesting the total number of species could be higher still.

Pinto-Sánchez NR, Calderón-Espinosa ML, Miralles A, Crawford AJ, Ramírez-Pinilla MP. 2015. Molecular phylogenetics and biogeography of the Neotropical skink genus Mabuya Fitzinger (Squamata: Scincidae) with emphasis on Colombian populations. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution. 93:188-211.



Size. 80.9 mm SVL in males, 89 mm SVL females. Differs from all T&T lizards in having five digits on each hand and foot, overlapping head scales, 30–32 mid-body scale rows, the only exception is the Greater Windward skink. This species differs from Greater Windward skink, Copeoglossum aurea by having the parietals in contact, 2-4 chin scales in contact with the infralabials between then postmental and first sublabial. This species also has a more faded pattern, few if any dorsal spots and a dark lateral stripe that fades posteriorly. Distribution. The southern Lesser Antilles: Young's Island (a St. Vincent satellite), the Grenadines (Mayero Island, Carriacou, and Petit Bateau), Grenada, Trinidad, and Tobago.

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