Gran Canaria skink

The Gran Canaria skink (Chalcides sexlineatus) is a species of skink in the family Scincidae which is endemic to Gran Canaria. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, temperate grassland, rocky areas, sandy shores, pastureland, and plantations. The adults measure 16 – 18 cm out of which the tail forms 50%. Their legs are tiny, slim, and have five fingers. They live solitarily and only seek a partner during the mating season. They are ovoviviparous; females give birth to 2 - 4 babies after three months of pregnancy. They are kept as pets in vivariums.

Gran Canaria skink

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Chalcides
Species:
C. sexlineatus
Binomial name
Chalcides sexlineatus
Steindachner, 1891

References
    • Brown, R. P. and R. S. Thorpe and M. Baez. 1991. Parallel within-island microevolution of lizards on neighbouring islands. Nature, 352(6330: p. 60-62.
    • Brown, R. P. and R. S. Thorpe. 1991. Within‐island microgeographic variation in body dimensions and scalation of the skink Chalcides sexlineatus, with testing of causal hypotheses. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 44.1 (1991): 47–64.
    • Brown, R.P. and R. S. Thorpe. 1991. Within‐island microgeographic variation in the colour pattern of the skink, Chalcides sexlineatus: Pattern and cause. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 4(4), pp. 557–574.
    • Brown, R. P. and J. Pestano. 1998. Phylogeography of Canary Island skinks inferred from mtDNA sequences. Molecular Ecology 7: 1183–1191.
    • Miras, J.A.M. & Pérez-Mellado, V. 2005. Chalcides sexlineatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 10 July 2007.
    • Kubát, J.
    • Pestano, J. and R. P. Brown. 1999. Geographical structuring of mtDNA in Chalcides sexlineatus within the island of Gran Canaria. Proceedings of the Royal Society (Lond.) B: Biological Sciences 266: 815–823.
    • Suárez, N.M., J. Pestano, and R.P. Brown. 2014. Ecological divergence combined with ancient allopatry in lizard populations from a small volcanic island. Molecular Ecology, 23(19), 4799–4812.


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