Scincella cherriei

Scincella cherriei
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific 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

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.

Etymology

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

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

Habitat

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

Diet

S. cherriei preys upon small invertebrates.[1]

Reproduction

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

Subspecies

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

• Scincella cherriei cherriei (Cope, 1893)
• Scincella cherriei ixbaac (L. Stuart, 1940)
• Scincella cherriei stuarti (H.M. Smith, 1941)

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

References

1. 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. Scincella cherriei at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 22 March 2020.
3. 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

• 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).