Eutropis

Eutropis is a genus of skinks belonging to the subfamily Lygosominae. For long, this genus was included in the "wastebin taxon" Mabuya; it contains the Asian mabuyas. They often share their habitat with the related common skinks (Sphenomorphus), but they do not compete significantly as their ecological niches differ.[2]

Eutropis
Eutropis macularia on a tree trunk, in Laos
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Scincidae
Subfamily:	Mabuyinae
Genus:	Eutropis Fitzinger, 1843 [1]
Type species
Gongylus sebae A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1839 [1]
Species
30 sp., see text

Eutropis macularia, bronze grass skink, at Pocharam lake, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Description

They are mid-sized to largish lizards with cylindrical bodies, tails of medium length, and well-developed arms and legs; the hands and feet have 5 toes each. Their cycloid scales are underlaid by osteoderms; the scales on the back and belly are similar in shape, but those on the back are keeled. The scales on the top of the head are generally flat and subimbricate; they have a pair of supranasal scales and the frontoparietal and prefrontal scales are paired or fused. The second supraocular scale is the hindmost one that contacts the frontal scale, and the tertiary temporal scale extends forward to separate the secondary temporal scales. The nasal scale is undivided.[2]

Eutropis mabuyas have 26 presacral vertebrae. Their palatine bones are in contact with the median; the deep sphenopalatine notch separates the pterygoids and extends forwards to between the centre of the eyes. The fairly small teeth are pleurodont, and the pterygopid always bears teeth. The ear opening is small, and the eardrums are hidden in a moderately deep ear canal.[2]

Species

Eutropis includes the following species:[3]

• Eutropis allapallensis (K.P. Schmidt, 1926) – Allapalli grass skink, Schmidt's mabuya
• Eutropis andamanensis (M.A. Smith, 1935) – Andaman Islands grass skink
• Eutropis ashwamedhi (Sharma, 1969) – Ashwamedh writhing skink, Ashwamedha supple skink
• Eutropis austini Batuwita, 2016
• Eutropis beddomei (Jerdon, 1870) – Beddome's mabuya[4]
• Eutropis bibronii (Gray, 1839) – Bibron's skink, seashore skink
• Eutropis bontocensis (Taylor, 1923) – Luzon montane mabuya
• Eutropis carinata (Schneider, 1801) – keeled Indian mabuya, many-keeled grass skink, "golden skink"
• Eutropis chapaensis (Bourret, 1937) – Sapa mabuya
• Eutropis clivicola (Inger et al., 1984) – Inger's mabuya[4]
• Eutropis cumingi (W.C. Brown & Alcala, 1980) – Cuming's mabuya, Cuming's eared skink[4]
• Eutropis darevskii (Bobrov, 1992) – Darevsky’s mabouya
• Eutropis dissimilis (Hallowell, 1857) – striped grass mabuya, striped grass skink
• Eutropis englei (Taylor, 1925) – six-striped mabuya
• Eutropis floweri (Taylor, 1950) – Taylor's striped mabuya[4]
• Eutropis gansi (Das, 1991) – Gans’s grass skink
• Eutropis greeri Batuwita, 2016
• Eutropis indeprensa (W.C. Brown & Alcala, 1980) – Brown's mabuya[4]
• Eutropis innotata (Blanford, 1870) – Blanford's mabuya[4]
• Eutropis longicaudata (Hallowell, 1857) – longtail mabuya, long-tailed sun skink
• Eutropis macrophthalma (Mausfeld & Böhme, 2002)
• Eutropis macularia (Blyth, 1853) – bronze mabuya, bronze grass skink
• Eutropis madaraszi (Méhelÿ, 1897) – Sri Lanka bronze mabuya
• Eutropis multicarinata (Gray, 1845)
• Eutropis multifasciata (Kuhl, 1820) – East Indian brown mabuya, many-lined sun skink, many-striped skink, common sun skink, golden skink
• Eutropis nagarjunensis (Sharma, 1969) – Sharma's mabuya[4]
• Eutropis quadratilobus (Bauer & R. Günther, 1992)
• Eutropis quadricarinata (Boulenger, 1887) – beautiful mabuya
• Eutropis rudis (Boulenger, 1887) – rough mabuya, brown mabuya
• Eutropis rugifera (Stoliczka, 1870) – Nicobar Island skink, Sulawesi bronze bush skink
• Eutropis tammanna Das, de Silva & Austin, 2008 – Tammanna skink
• Eutropis trivittata (Hardwicke & Gray, 1827) – three-banded mabuya
• Eutropis tytleri (Theobald, 1868) – Tytler's mabuya[4]

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

References

1. Das, Indraneil; de Silva, Anslem; Austin, Christopher C. (2008). "A new species of Eutropis (Squamata: Scincidae) from Sri Lanka" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1700: 35–52.
2. Cyberlizards (2004): The Scincidae – Eutropis. Version of February 29, 2004. Retrieved March 18, 2009.
3. "Eutropis ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
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.

Further reading

• Fitzinger L (1843). Systema Reptilium, Fasciculus Primus, Amblyglossae. Vienna: Braumüller & Seidel. 106 pp. + indices. (Genus Eutropis, p. 22). (in Latin).