Southern Canary Islands Skink
| Southern Canary Islands Skink | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Southern Canary Skink ( Chalcides coeruleopunctatus ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Chalcides coeruleopunctatus | ||||||||||||
| Salvador , 1975 |
The southern Canary Skink ( Chalcides coeruleopunctatus ) is a species of lizard from the skink family that occurs on the two Canary Islands El Hierro and La Gomera.
features
The kind reaches a head-trunk-length up to 8.4 centimeters. The head is small and is only slightly separated from the body. The cross-section of the body is cylindrical. The four legs are strong and each has five toes. The eardrum is round to oval and large. The back and the top of the tail are colored quite contrasting. The dark basic color of the animals varies from red-brown to bronze to black. In contrast, there are longitudinal rows of small, light, dark-edged dots, which are often blue in color on the tail and in the rear third of the body. On El Hierro, the tail of the young is dark, but not colored blue.
Occurrence
The distribution area of the southern Canary Skink are the Canary Islands La Gomera and El Hierro as well as the two El Hierro to the northwest of Roques del Salmor. The species is found at lower and intermediate altitudes in many different types of habitats. It often occurs on agricultural land.
Way of life
Little is known about the way of life.
Systematics
No subspecies are distinguished.
Until recently, the species was listed under the name Chalcides viridanus coeruleopunctatus as a subspecies of the Northern Canary Skink ( Chalcides viridanus ), but is now considered a separate species based on genetic studies.
Danger
The species is common and not endangered.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ^ Dieter Glandt: Pocket dictionary of the amphibians and reptiles of Europe . Quelle & Meyer Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-494-01470-8 , p. 265.
literature
- Dieter Glandt: Pocket dictionary of amphibians and reptiles in Europe . Quelle & Meyer Verlag, Wiebelsheim 2010, ISBN 978-3-494-01470-8 , pp. 254-255.
