Lankascincus taylori

Lankascincus taylori, commonly known as Taylor's tree skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to the island of Sri Lanka.

Lankascincus taylori
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Lankascincus
Species:
L. taylori
Binomial name
Lankascincus taylori
Greer, 1991

Etymology

The specific name, taylori, is in honor of American herpetologist Edward Harrison Taylor.[1]

Habitat and Geographic range

A montane representative of Lanka skinks, L. taylori is found in moist leaf litter, under stones and logs in forests from 470–1,350 m (1,540–4,430 ft) above sea level, at Sinharaja, Knuckles Mountain Range, Gampola, Hantana, and Udawatta Kele.

Description

The head, body, and tail of L. taylori are long and slender. The midbody scales are in 24-26 rows. The lamellae under the fourth toe number 12-18. The dorsum is chocolate brown. Each dorsal scale has a dark gray horseshoe mark, which is open-ended posteriorly. A dark brown flank band can be seen with blue spots. The throat is grayish with blue spots. The venter is yellow.

Diet

The diet of L. taylori includes insects.

Reproduction

Sexually mature females of L. taylori usually lay 2 eggs at a time.

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References
  1. Boelens, 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. (Lankascincus taylori, p. 261).

Further reading
  • Austin CC, Das I, De Silva A (2004). "Higher-level molecular phylogenetic relationships of the endemic genus Lankascincus from Sri Lanka based on nuclear DNA sequences". Lyriocephalus 5 (1-2): 11-22.
  • Greer AE (1991). "Lankascincus, a New Genus of Scincid Lizards from Sri Lanka, with Descriptions of Three New Species". Journal of Herpetology 25 (1): 59-64. (Lankascincus taylori, new species).


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