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]
| 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 |
Geographic range
editSpecies in the genus Prasinohaema are endemic to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.[4]
Species
editSpecies 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
editThe specific names, parkeri and semoni, are in honor of English herpetologist Hampton Wildman Parker and German zoologist Richard Wolfgang Semon, respectively.[5]
References
edit- ^ a b 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.
- ^ Grens, Kerry (2018-05-16). "Lizards' Green Blood Evolved Four Times". The Scientist. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
- ^ Malhotra, Anita (23 May 2018). "Some lizards have green blood that should kill them – and scientists can't work out why". The Independent.
- ^ a b Genus Prasinohaema at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
- ^ 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
edit- 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
edit- Prasinohaema in the Reptile Database.
- Green Blood episode in O'Shea's Big Adventure.