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 Edit this 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]
  • Mocoa cherriei
    Cope, 1893
  • Lygosoma assatum cherriei
    L. Stuart, 1940
  • Leiolopisma cherriei
    H.M. Smith, 1946
  • Scincella cherriei
    Mittleman, 1950
  • Lygosoma cherriei
    Mertens, 1952
  • Sphenmorphus cherriei
    Greer, 1974
  • Scincella cherriei
    Curlis et al. 2020

Etymology edit

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 edit

S. cherriei is found in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, Yucatán), and Nicaragua.[2]

Habitat edit

The preferred natural habitat of S. cherriei is forest, at altitudes from sea level to 1,860 m (6,100 ft).[1]

Diet edit

S. cherriei preys upon small invertebrates.[1]

Reproduction edit

S. cherriei is oviparous.[1][2]

Subspecies edit

The following three subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.[2]

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Scincella.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d 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.
  2. ^ a b c d Scincella cherriei at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 22 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b 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 edit

  • 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).