Sepsina
| Sepsina | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia (paraphyletic) |
| Order: | Squamata (paraphyletic) |
| (unranked): | Sauria |
| Infraorder: | Scincomorpha |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Subfamily: | see text |
| Genus: | Sepsina Bocage, 1866[1] |
| Species | |
|
5, see text. | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Sepsina is a genus of skinks (family Scincidae). The genus is endemic to southern Africa.[3]
Taxonomy
This genus is presently placed in the subfamily Scincinae, a subfamily which seems to be paraphyletic however. Sepsina belongs to a major clade of this group which does not seem to include the type genus Scincus. Thus, it will probably be eventually assigned to a new, yet-to-be-named subfamily.[4]
Species
The following five species are recognized:[3]
- Sepsina alberti Hewitt, 1929
- Sepsina angolensis Bocage, 1866
- Sepsina bayoni (Bocage, 1866)
- Sepsina copei Bocage, 1873
- Sepsina tetradactyla W. Peters, 1874
Etymology
The specific name, bayoni, is in honor of Francisco Antonio Pinheiro Bayão, a Portuguese planter in Angola, who collected the holotype.
The specific name, copei, is in honor of American herpetologist and paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope.
Unfortunately, Hewitt did not explain to whom the specific name, alberti, refers. It may be in honor of Albert I of Belgium, or Belgian-British herpetologist George Albert Boulenger, or an altogether different unsung Albert.[5]
References
- 1 2 Dahms Tierleben. www.dahmstierleben.de.
- ↑ Boulenger GA. 1887. Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III. Lacertidæ, Gerrhosauridæ, Scincidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 575 pp. + Plates I- XL. (Genus Sepsina, p. 417).
- 1 2 The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
- ↑ Austin & Arnold 2006.
- ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Sepsina alberti, p. 4; Sepsina bayoni, p. 20: Sepsina copei, p. 59).
Further reading
- Austin, J.J., & Arnold, E.N. (2006): Using ancient and recent DNA to explore relationships of extinct and endangered Leiolopisma skinks (Reptilia: Scincidae) in the Mascarene islands. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39 (2): 503–511. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.12.011 (HTML abstract)
- Bocage JVB. 1866. "Reptiles nouveaux ou peu connus recueillis dans les possessions portugaises de l'Afrique occidentale, qui se trouvent au Muséum de Lisbonne". Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas Physicas e Naturaes, Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa 1: 57-78. (Sepsina, nov. gen., p. 62; Sepsina angolensis, nov. sp., p. 63; Dumerilia, nov. gen., p. 63; Dumerilia bayonii, nov. sp., pp. 63–64).
- Branch, Bill. 2004. Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Genus Sepsina, p. 145; Sepsina alberti, p. 145 + Plate 49; Sepsina angolensis, p. 146 + Plate 101).