''Riopa lineata'', the lined writhing skink or lined supple skink, is a species of writhing skink. It is known from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

(the northern Western Ghats),

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and Myanmar (= Burma). This skink grows to about 6 cm in length. The body colouration is golden and each scale has a black dot forming longitudinal stripes on the body. It is known to occur from Gujarat to north of Karnataka. In

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

this skink has been observed in the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Aarey milk colony. It is often found under rocks, loose soil associated with termite mounds and ant hills. It is

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal, vespertine, or both. This is distinguished from diurnal and nocturnal behavior, where an animal is active during the hours of daylig ...

. A captive individual accepted termites, mosquito, house flies, ant eggs for about 45 days and was released.

References

* Gray, J.E. 1839 Catalogue of the slender-tongued saurians, with descriptions of many new genera and species. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (1) 2: 331-337 (287-293) * Naik Y M; Vinod K R 1994 Record of a rare skink Lygosoma lineata (Gray, 1839) from Kevadia, Gujarat. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 91 (2): 324–325. * Narasimmarajan, K. and Subhasis Mahato 2013. First record of the Lygosoma lineata (Grey 1839) from

Melghat Tiger Reserve Melghat was among the first nine tiger reserves of India to be notified in 1973 under Project Tiger. It is located at in the northern part of Amravati District of Maharashtra. Melghat Wildlife Sanctuary was declared as in 1985. The Tapti Rive ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

. ''Reptile Rap.'' 15. 9–10. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3021095 Riopa Reptiles described in 1839 Taxa named by John Edward Gray Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN