Trachylepis

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Subordo: Scincomorpha
Superfamilia: Scincoidea

Familia: Scincidae
Genus: Trachylepis
Species (87): T. acutilabris – T. adamastor – T. affinis – T. albilabris – T. albotaeniata – T. atlantica – T. aureogularis – T. aureopunctata – T. bayonii – T. bensonii – T. betsileana – T. binotata – T. bocagii – T. boettgeri – T. boulengeri – T. brauni – T. brevicollis – T. buettneri – T. capensis – T. casuarinae – T. chimbana – T. comorensis – T. cristinae – T. damarana – T. depressa – T. dichroma – T. dumasi – T. elegans – T. ferrarai – T. gonwouoi – T. gravenhorstii – T. hemmingi – T. hildebrandtii – T. hoeschi – T. homalocephala – T. infralineata – T. irregularis – T. keroanensis – T. lacertiformis – T. laevigata – T. laevis – T. langheldi – T. lavarambo – T. loluiensis – T. maculata – T. maculilabris – T. madagascariensis – T. makolowodei – T. margaritifera – T. megalura – T. mekuana – T. mlanjensis – T. monardi – T. nancycoutuae – T. nganghae – T. occidentalis – T. ozorii – T. paucisquamis – T. pendeana – T. perrotetii – T. planifrons – T. polytropis – T. principensis – T. pulcherrima – T. punctatissima – T. punctulata – T. quinquetaeniata – T. raymondlaurenti – T. rodenburgi – T. sechellensis – T. socotrana – T. sparsa – T. spilogaster – T. striata – T. sulcata – T. tandrefana – T. tavaratra – T. tessellata – T. thomensis – T. tschudii – T. varia – T. variegata – T. vato – T. vezo – T. volamenaloha – T. wahlbergii – T. wingati – T. wrightii

Name

Trachylepis Fitzinger, 1843: 22

Type species: Euprepes savignyi Duméril & Bibron, 1839, by original designation.
References
Primary references

Fitzinger, L. 1843. Systema Reptilium. Fasciculus primus. Amblyglossae. Braumüller et Seidel: Wien. vi + 106 pp. BHL Reference page.

Additional references

Sindaco, R. et al. 2012: Forgotten in the ocean: systematics, biogeography and evolution of the Trachylepis skinks of the Socotra Archipelago. Zoologica scripta 41(4): 346-362. DOI: 10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00540.x Reference page.
Ceríaco, L.M.P. 2015. Lost in the middle of the sea, found in the back of the shelf: A new giant species of Trachylepis (Squamata: Scincidae) from Tinhosa Grande islet, Gulf of Guinea. Zootaxa 3973(3): 511–527. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3973.3.6. Preview (PDF). Reference page.
Ceríaco, L.M.P., Marques, M.P. & Bauer, A.M. 2016. A review of the genus Trachylepis (Sauria: Scincidae) from the Gulf of Guinea, with descriptions of two new species in the Trachylepis maculilabris (Gray, 1845) species complex. Zootaxa 4109(3): 284–314. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4109.3.2. Reference page.
Allen, K.E., Tapondjou N., W.P., Welton, L.J. & Bauer, A.M. 2017. A new species of Trachylepis (Squamata: Scincidae) from Central Africa and a key to the Trachylepis of West and Central Africa. Zootaxa 4268(2): 255–269. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4268.2.5. Reference page.
Marques, M.P., Ceríaco, L.M.P., Bandeira, S., Pauwels, O.S.G. & Bauer, A.M. 2019. Description of a new long-tailed skink (Scincidae: Trachylepis) from Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zootaxa 4568(1): 51–68. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4568.1.3. Reference page.

Links

Uetz, P. & Hallermann, J. 2021. Trachylepis . The Reptile Database. Accessed on 25 June 2019.

Vernacular names
English: Afro-Malagasy Mabuyas

rachylepis is a skink genus in the subfamily Lygosominae found mainly in Africa. Its members were formerly included in the "wastebin taxon" Mabuya, and for some time in Euprepis. As defined today, Trachylepis contains the clade of Afro-Malagasy mabuyas. The genus also contains a species from the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, T. atlantica, and may occur in mainland South America with Trachylepis tschudii and Trachylepis maculata, both poorly known and enigmatic.[1] The ancestors of T. atlantica are believed to have rafted across the Atlantic from Africa during the last 9 million years.[2]

The generic name Trachylepis literally means "rough-scaled", referring to the fact that most of the species, though superficially smooth-scaled, have three or more slight longitudinal keels on their dorsal scales.[3]
Species

The following species are recognized as being valid (listed alphabetically by specific name).[4][5]

Trachylepis acutilabris (W. Peters, 1862) – wedge-snouted skink, sharp-lipped mabuya
Trachylepis adamastor Ceríaco, 2015 – Adamastor skink
Trachylepis affinis (Gray, 1838) – Senegal mabuya
Trachylepis albilabris (Hallowell, 1857) – Guinea mabuya
Trachylepis albotaeniata (Boettger, 1913) – Pemba Island mabuya
Trachylepis atlantica (Schmidt, 1945) – Noronha skink
Trachylepis aureogularis (Muller, 1885) – Guinea mabuya, orange-throated skink
Trachylepis aureopunctata (Grandidier, 1867) – gold-spotted mabuya
Trachylepis bayonii (Bocage, 1872) – Bayão’s skink, Bayon's skink, Bayon's mabuya
Trachylepis bensonii (W. Peters, 1867) – Benson's mabuya
Trachylepis betsileana (Mocquard, 1906) – Betsileo mabuya
Trachylepis binotata (Bocage, 1867) – Ovambo tree skink, Bocage's mabuya
Trachylepis bocagii (Boulenger, 1887) – Bocage's skink
Trachylepis boehmei Koppetsch, 2020 – Böhme's grass skink
Trachylepis boettgeri (Boulenger, 1887) – Boettger's mabuya
Trachylepis boulengeri (Sternfeld, 1911) – Boulenger's mabuya
Trachylepis brauni (Tornier, 1902) – Braun's mabuya
Trachylepis brevicollis (Wiegmann, 1837) – short-necked skink, Sudan mabuya
Trachylepis buettneri (Matschie, 1893)
Trachylepis capensis (Gray, 1831) – Cape skink, Cape three-lined skink
Trachylepis casuarinae (Broadley, 1974) – Casuarina Island skink
Trachylepis chimbana (Boulenger, 1887) – Chimba skink, Chimban mabuya
Trachylepis comorensis (W. Peters, 1854) – Comoro Island skink
Trachylepis cristinae Sindaco et al., 2012 – Abd Al Kuri skink
Trachylepis damarana (W. Peters, 1870) – Damara skink
Trachylepis depressa (W. Peters, 1854) – eastern sand skink
Trachylepis dichroma R. Günther, Whiting & Bauer, 2005 – two-coloured skink
Trachylepis dumasi (Nussbaum & Raxworthy, 1995)
Trachylepis elegans W. Peters, 1854 – elegant mabuya
Trachylepis ferrarai (Lanza, 1978) – Ferrara's mabuya
Trachylepis gonwouoi Allen et al., 2017 – Gonwouo’s skink
Trachylepis gravenhorstii (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1839) – Gravenhorst's mabuya[6]
Trachylepis hemmingi (Gans, Laurent & Pandit, 1965) – Somali mabuya
Trachylepis hildebrandtii (W. Peters, 1874) – Hildebrandt’s skink
Trachylepis hoeschi (Mertens, 1954) – Hoesch's mabuya
Trachylepis homalocephala (Wiegmann, 1828) – red-sided skink
Trachylepis infralineata (Boettger, 1913)
Trachylepis irregularis (Lönnberg, 1922) – alpine meadow mabuya
Trachylepis keroanensis (Chabanaud, 1921) – Teita mabuya
Trachylepis lacertiformis (W. Peters, 1854) – bronze rock skink
Trachylepis laevigata (Peters, 1869) – variable skink, striped-neck variable skink
Trachylepis laevis (Boulenger, 1907) – Angolan blue-tailed skink
Trachylepis langheldi (Sternfeld, 1917) – Langheld's skink
Trachylepis lavarambo (Nussbaum & Raxworthy, 1998)
Trachylepis loluiensis Kingdon & Spawls, 2010 – Loloui Island skink
Trachylepis maculata (Gray, 1839) – spotted mabuya
Trachylepis maculilabris (Gray, 1845) – speckle-lipped skink, speckle-lipped mabuya
Trachylepis madagascariensis (Mocquard, 1908) – Malagasy mabuya
Trachylepis makolowodei Chirio et al., 2008 – Makolowodé's trachylepis
Trachylepis margaritifera (W. Peters, 1854) – rainbow skink
Trachylepis megalura (W. Peters, 1878) – grass-top skink, long-tailed skink
Trachylepis mekuana (Chirio & Ineich, 2000)
Trachylepis mlanjensis (Loveridge, 1953) – Mulanje skink
Trachylepis monardi (Monard, 1937) – Monard’s skink
Trachylepis nancycoutuae (Nussbaum & Raxworthy, 1998)
Trachylepis nganghae Ineich & Chirio, 2004
Trachylepis occidentalis (W. Peters, 1867) – western three-striped skink
Trachylepis ozorii (Bocage, 1893)
Trachylepis paucisquamis (Hoogmoed, 1978) – tropical mabuya
Trachylepis pendeana (Ineich & Chirio, 2000)
Trachylepis perrotetii (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1839) – Teita mabuya, African red-sided skink
Trachylepis planifrons (W. Peters, 1878) – tree skink
Trachylepis polytropis (Boulenger, 1903) – tropical mabuya
Trachylepis pulcherrima (de Witte, 1953) – beautiful skink
Trachylepis punctatissima (A. Smith, 1849) – montane speckled skink, speckled rock skink
Trachylepis punctulata (Bocage, 1872) – speckled sand skink, speckled skink
Trachylepis quinquetaeniata (Lichtenstein, 1823) – African five-lined skink, rainbow mabuya
Trachylepis raymondlaurenti Marques, Ceríaco, Bandeira, Pauwels & Bauer, 2019 – Laurent's long-tailed skink
Trachylepis rodenburgi (Hoogmoed, 1974) – Rodenburg's mabuya
Trachylepis sechellensis (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1839) – Seychelles mabuya
Trachylepis socotrana (W. Peters, 1882) – Socotra skink
Trachylepis sparsa (Mertens, 1954) – Karasburg tree skink
Trachylepis spilogaster (W. Peters, 1882) – Kalahari tree skink, spiny mabuya
Trachylepis striata (W. Peters, 1844) – African striped mabuya, striped skink
Trachylepis sulcata (W. Peters, 1867) – western rock skink
Trachylepis tandrefana (Nussbaum, Raxworthy & Ramanamanjato, 1999)
Trachylepis tavaratra (Ramanamanjato, Nussbaum & Raxworthy, 1999)
Trachylepis tessellata (Anderson, 1895) – tessellated mabuya
Trachylepis thomensis Ceríaco, Marques & Bauer, 2016
Trachylepis varia (W. Peters, 1867) – variable skink
Trachylepis variegata (W. Peters, 1870) – variegated skink
Trachylepis vato (Nussbaum & Raxworthy, 1994) – boulder mabuya
Trachylepis vezo (Ramanamanjato, Nussbaum & Raxworthy, 1999)
Trachylepis volamenaloha (Nussbaum, Raxworthy & Ramanamanjato, 1999)
Trachylepis wahlbergii (Peters, 1870) – Wahlberg's striped skink
Trachylepis wingati (F. Werner, 1908) – Wingate’s skink
Trachylepis wrightii (Boulenger, 1887) –Wright's skink, Wright's mabuya

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

Miralles A, Chaparro JC, Harvey MB (2009). "Three rare and enigmatic South American skinks". Zootaxa 2012: 47–68.
Carranza, S.; Arnold, E.N. (2003). "Investigating the origin of transoceanic distributions: mtDNA shows Mabuya lizards (Reptilia, Scincidae) crossed the Atlantic twice". Systematics and Biodiversity. 1 (2): 275–282. doi:10.1017/S1477200003001099. S2CID 55799145. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
Jaeger, Edmund Carroll (1959). A Source-Book of Biological Names and Terms. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas. 360 pp. ISBN 0-398-06179-3.
Trachylepis. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
Koppetsch, Thore (2020-10-05). "A new species of Trachylepis (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Amhara Region, Ethiopia, and a key to the Ethiopian Trachylepis". Zootaxa. 4859 (1): 113–126. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4859.1.4. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 33056207. S2CID 222841954.

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. (Mabuya gravenhorstii, p. 106).