Prasinohaema

Prasinohaema
Geographic distribution of Prasinohaema flavipes
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Scincidae
Subfamily:	Sphenomorphinae
Genus:	Prasinohaema Greer, 1974

Prasinohaema (Greek: "green blood") is a genus of skinks characterized by having green blood. This condition is caused by an excess buildup of the bile pigment biliverdin. [1] Prasinohaema species have plasma biliverdin concentrations approximately 1.5-30 times greater than fish species with green blood plasma and 40 times greater than humans with green jaundice.[1] The benefit provided by the high pigment concentration is unknown, but one possibility is that it protects against malaria.[2][3]

Geographic range

Species in the genus Prasinohaema are endemic to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.[4]

Species

Species in the genus include:[4]

• Prasinohaema flavipes (Parker, 1936) – common green tree skink
• Prasinohaema parkeri (M.A. Smith, 1937) – Parker's green tree skink
• Prasinohaema prehensicauda (Loveridge, 1945) – prehensile green tree skink
• Prasinohaema semoni (Oudemans, 1894) – Semon's green tree skink
• Prasinohaema virens (W. Peters, 1881) - green-blooded skink, green tree skink

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Prasinohaema.

Etymology

The specific names, parkeri and semoni, are in honor of English herpetologist Hampton Wildman Parker and German zoologist Richard Wolfgang Semon, respectively.[5]

References

1. Austin, Christopher C.; Jessing, Kevin W. (1994). "Green-blood pigmentation in lizards". Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology. 109 (3): 619–626. doi:10.1016/0300-9629(94)90201-1.
2. Grens, Kerry (2018-05-16). "Lizards' Green Blood Evolved Four Times". The Scientist. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
3. Malhotra, Anita (23 May 2018). "Some lizards have green blood that should kill them – and scientists can't work out why". The Independent.
4. Genus Prasinohaema at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
5. 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. (Prasinohaema parkeri, p. 200; P. semoni, p. 240).

Further reading

• Greer AE (1974). "The genetic relationships of the Scincid lizard genus Leiolopisma and its relatives". Australian J. Zool. Supplementary Series 22 (31): 1-67. (Prasinohaema, new genus, p. 12).

External links

• Prasinohaema in the Reptile Database.
• Green Blood episode in O'Shea's Big Adventure.