Purpurarium Skink
| Purpurarium Skink | ||||||||||||
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| Chalcides simonyi | ||||||||||||
| Steindachner , 1891 |
The Purpurarium Skink ( Chalcides simonyi ) is a species of lizard from the skink family . The species was named after Oscar Simony , who was the first to collect specimens of the species in 1890, and after an earlier name for the eastern Canary Islands ( Purpurarium ).
features
The Purpurarium Skink reaches a total length of 30 centimeters, making it the largest skinkart in the Canaries. The basic color of the top is usually dark brown. Bright, beige dots arranged in rows can be found numerous on the sides of the body, back and tail. The edge of the scales is dark, which makes the animals look like a net and not striped. The cross-section of the cylindrical and plump body is oval. The long tail has a round cross-section. It is slightly shorter than the head-torso length. The head, clearly separated from the trunk, is short, broad and has a triangular outline. The legs are relatively strong and more developed than other species of the genus Chalcides found in the Canary Islands . The feet each have 5 toes. The eardrum is round and easy to see.
The coloring and drawing of the young animals largely correspond to those of the adults.
Occurrence
The species is mainly found in the northern and central part of the Canary Island Fuerteventura . It also occurs on the small island of Lobos and has also been detected in the south of Fuerteventura and in the north of Lanzarote . It occurs from sea level up to an altitude of 450 meters above sea level. It prefers humid habitats such as the bottom of ravines (barrancos), but also irrigated cultivated land, gardens, country estates and the like.
Way of life
During the winter, the Purpurarium Skink hibernates for several months. The animals become active again in February / March, at which point the breeding season, which lasts several weeks, begins.
So far, only data from terrarium keeping are available on mating and birth. When copulating, the male bites on one side of the female's neck. The copulation itself only takes a few seconds. However, there is frequent repetition, even several times in one day. In April / May the females give birth to 4 or 5 young in about two hours. Two litters are possible per year.
The species feeds on ants, larvae of beetles, small snails and earthworms, it also eats the fruits of opuntia and the cochineal scale ( Dactylopius coccus ) living on opuntia . Predators are barn owls ( Tyto alba ) and canary shrews ( Crocidura canariensis ).
Systematics
No subspecies of the Purpurarium Skink are distinguished.
supporting documents
- Dieter Glandt: Pocket dictionary of amphibians and reptiles in Europe . Quelle & Meyer Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-494-01470-8 , pp. 260-262.
Individual evidence
Web links
- Chalcides simonyi in The Reptile Database
- Chalcides simonyi inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Jose Antonio Mateo Miras, Valentin Pérez-Mellado, Iñigo Martínez-Solano, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2013.