Scincella cherriei
Scincella cherriei, commonly known as the brown forest skink and Cope's brown forest skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to Central America and adjacent southeastern Mexico. Three subspecies are recognized.
| Scincella cherriei | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Genus: | Scincella |
| Species: | S. cherriei |
| Binomial name | |
| Scincella cherriei (Cope, 1893) | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
Etymology
The specific name, cherriei, is in honor of George Kruck Cherrie, who was an American naturalist and ornithologist.[3]
The subspecific name, stuarti, is in honor of American herpetologist Laurence Cooper Stuart.[3]
Geographic range
S. cherriei is found in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, Yucatán), and Nicaragua.[2]
Habitat
The preferred natural habitat of S. cherriei is forest, at altitudes from sea level to 1,860 m (6,100 ft).[1]
Diet
S. cherriei preys upon small invertebrates.[1]
Subspecies
The following three subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[2]
- Scincella cherriei cherriei (Cope, 1893)
- Scincella cherriei ixbaac (L. Stuart, 1940)
- Scincella cherriei stuarti (H.M. Smith, 1941)
Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Scincella.
References
- Chaves G, Köhler G, Lamar W, Nicholson K (2013). "Scincella cherriei (errata version published in 2019)". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T198510A152272640. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-2.RLTS.T198510A152272640.en. Downloaded on 07 July 2020.
- Scincella cherriei at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 22 March 2020.
- 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. (Sphenomorphus cherriei, p. 53; S. c. stuarti, p. 257).
Further reading
- Cope ED (1893). "Second Addition to the Knowledge of the Batrachia and Reptilia of Costa Rica". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 31: 333–347. (Mocoa cherriei, new species, pp. 340–341).
- Savage JM (2002). The Amphibians and Reptiles of Costa Rica: A Herpetofauna between Two Continents, between Two Seas. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 954 pp. ISBN 0-226-73537-0.
- Smith HM (1941). "A New Race of Lygosoma from Mexico". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 54: 181–182. (Lygosoma cherriei stuarti, new subspecies).
- Stuart LC (1940). "Notes on the Lampropholis group of Middle American Lygosoma (Scincidae) with descriptions of two new forms". Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (421): 1–16. (Lygosoma assatum ixbaac, new subspecies, pp. 8–10).