Nessia deraniyagalai
| Nessia deraniyagalai | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Sauria / Lacertilia |
| Infraorder: | Scincomorpha |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Subfamily: | Scincinae |
| Genus: | Nessia |
| Species: | N. deraniyagalai |
| Binomial name | |
| Nessia deraniyagalai Taylor, 1950 | |
Nessia deraniyagalai, commonly known as Deraniyagala's snake skink or Deraniyagala's nessia, is a species of limbless skink endemic to the island of Sri Lanka.
Etymology
The specific name, deraniyagalai, is in honor of Sri Lankan zoologist Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala.[1]
Habitat & distribution
N. deraniyagala is known only from dry northeastern Sri Lanka, where a single specimen was collected north of Trincomalee, near the shore, on a small hillock of about 10 m (33 ft) elevation.
Description
Scales in 20 rows at midbody. Paired loreals, the anterior much higher. Fronto-parietal broader than frontal. Lower eyelid movable. Five supralabials, the first long, the second under the orbit.
Dorsum brown, each scale with a dark brown spot, giving the appearance of longitudinal stripes. A blackish brown area above the eye that continues to top of snout.
References
- ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Nessia deraniyagalai, p. 70).
External links
- http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Nessia&species=deraniyagalai
- http://eol.org/pages/458715/overview
- http://www.gbif.org/species/124789227
Further reading
- Taylor EH. 1950. Ceylonese Lizards of the Family Scincidae. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 33 (13): 481-518. (Nessia deraniyagalai, new species, pp. 516-518, Figure 8).