Northern Canary Skink

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Northern Canary Skink
Chalcides viridanus (Wroclaw zoo) .JPG

Northern Canary Island Skink ( Chalcides viridanus )

Systematics
Order : Scale reptiles (Squamata)
without rank: Scincomorpha (Scincoidea)
Family : Skinks (Scincidae)
Subfamily : Scincinae
Genre : Roller skink ( Chalcides )
Type : Northern Canary Skink
Scientific name
Chalcides viridanus
( Gravenhorst , 1851)

The Northern Canary Skink ( Chalcides viridanus ) is a species of lizard from the skink family .

features

The head-torso length is up to 8.9 centimeters, the total length usually up to 15, rarely up to 18 centimeters. The head is small and is only slightly separated from the body. The body shape is cylindrical, the body cross-section is round. The four legs are strong and have 5 toes each. The species has a round to oval and large eardrum. The back is olive brown or copper to gold in color, but it can sometimes be very dark or almost black. Furthermore, the back has a scaly sheen reminiscent of the slow worm ( Anguis fragilis ). Small bright spots are arranged in several longitudinal rows on the back. These spots often have a black border. The throat, sides of the body and usually the abdomen are black. But there are also specimens with a gray belly. There are hardly any differences between males and females. The tails of young animals are strikingly light blue to turquoise. The tails of adult animals from the south of Tenerife are also colored in this way, while they are dark in animals from the north.

Occurrence

Distribution area of ​​the northern and southern Kanarenskinks

The Northern Canary Skink is endemic to the Canary Island of Tenerife as well as the small rocky islands of Roque de Garachico , Roque Dentro de Anaga and Roque Fuera de Anaga to the north . The species can be found from sea level up to altitudes of 2300 meters above sea level. There is also a find report from a height of 2800 meters which is doubted, however. Most of the Northern Canary Skink lives in lower to middle altitudes below 1200 meters. Habitats of the species are open and semi-open, sunny and offer good opportunities to hide. For example, grassy and slightly bushy slopes, unmounted walls, fields, banana plantations and even gardens and parks within cities are populated. The closed pine and laurel forests are avoided .

Way of life

The breeding season extends from April to September. Copulation takes about 10 to 15 seconds. From July the females give birth to 2 to 5 young animals. The species uses its legs for slow locomotion and climbing, but when it flees quickly it moves in a meandering manner while the legs are placed against the body. The northern Canary Islands skink feeds on various arthropods and their larvae, for example woodlice, millipedes, spiders and insects such as bedbugs, beetles or caterpillars of butterflies. Presumably the animals also eat vegetable food such as ripe fruit. Common kestrels ( Falco tinnunculus ssp. Canariensis ), common ravens ( Corvus corax ssp. Canariensis ) and domestic cats are known to be predators .

Systematics

The two subspecies Chalcides viridanus ssp. viridianus and Chalcides viridanus ssp. coeruleopunctatus differentiated. Based on genetic studies, the latter was recently raised to the species rank as Southern Canary Skink ( Chalcides coeruleopunctatus ).

literature

  • Dieter Glandt: Pocket dictionary of amphibians and reptiles in Europe . Quelle & Meyer Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-494-01470-8 , pp. 264-266.

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