Lerista kendricki, also known commonly as the dark broad-blazed slider and the Shark Bay broad-striped slider, is a species of skink, a lizard in the subfamily Sphenomorphinae of the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to the Australian state of Western Australia.[2]

Lerista kendricki
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Lerista
Species:
L. kendricki
Binomial name
Lerista kendricki
Storr, 1991

Etymology

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The specific name, kendricki, is in honor of Australian zoologist Peter G. Kendrick.[3]

Description

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L. kendricki has no front legs, and each small, slender back leg has only two digits.[2]

The lower eyelid is fused. The dark broad vertebral stripe is continuous with the dark top of the head. Maximum snout-to-vent length (SVL) is 6.7 cm (2.6 in).[4]

Habitat

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The preferred natural habitat of L. kendricki is sandy shrubland.[1]

Behavior

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L. kendricki is terrestrial[1] and fossorial.[5]

Reproduction

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L. kendricki is oviparous.[2]

Taxonomy

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L. kendricki belongs to the Lerista nichollsi species group.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Gaikhorst, G.; Lloyd, R. (2017). "Lerista kendricki ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T109476560A109476565. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T109476560A109476565.en. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Lerista kendricki at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 22 March 2015.
  3. ^ 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. (Lerista kendricki, p. 139).
  4. ^ Wilson S, Swan G (2023). A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia, Sixth Edition. Sydney: Reed New Holland Publishers. 688 pp. ISBN 978-1-92554-671-2. (Lerista kendricki, pp. 370–371).
  5. ^ Morinaga & Bergmann, 2020.

Further reading

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  • Cogger HG (2014). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. xxx + 1,033 pp. ISBN 978-0643100350.
  • Morinaga, Gen; Bergmann, Philip J. (2020). "Evolution of fossorial locomotion in the transition from tetrapod to snake-like in lizards". Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Biological Sciences 287: 20200192.
  • Skinner A, Lee MSY, Hutchinson MN (2008). "Rapid and repeated limb loss in a clade of scincid lizards". BMC Evolutionary Biology 8: "310" (nine pages). (Lerista kendricki, p. [4], Figure 1).
  • Storr GM (1991). "Four new members of the Lerista nichollsi complex (Lacertilia: Scincidae)". Records of the Western Australian Museum 15 (1): 139–147. (Lerista kendricki, new species, pp. 142–143, Figure 3).