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Eutropis Tammanna
''Eutropis tammanna'' is a species of skink endemic to the island of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, .... Habitat and distribution It is a terrestrial skink found in open grasslands, coconut and cashew plantations, house gardens, and agricultural fields. It is widespread at elevations less than . Description The snout is short. It lacks transparent disks on the lower eyelids. Post-nasala are absent. There are 15 lamellae under the fourth toe. Dorsal scales have 4–5 keels. The dorsum is medium brown, and the lips are bright orange in males and yellow in females, the color extending to the middle of the flanks. A black stripe extends from below the eye to beyond the base of tail, with large, creamy-yellow spots; in females, this stripe is paler. The ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. It shares a maritime border with the Maldives in the southwest and India in the northwest. Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is the legislative capital of Sri Lanka, while the largest city, Colombo, is the administrative and judicial capital which is the nation's political, financial and cultural centre. Kandy is the second-largest urban area and also the capital of the last native kingdom of Sri Lanka. The most spoken language Sinhala language, Sinhala, is spoken by the majority of the population (approximately 17 million). Tamil language, Tamil is also spoken by approximately five million people, making it the second most-spoken language in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has a population of appr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anslem De Silva
Kongahage Anslem Lawrence de Silva (; born 1 August 1940) is a Sri Lankan biologist and herpetologist recognised as a pioneer of modern herpetology in Sri Lanka. His career spanned for more than five decades; de Silva has contributed to the field of zoology with much research and numerous publications particularly on crocodiles, snakes and lizards. De Silva is known for conservation of crocodiles in Sri Lanka. He is the regional chairman of the Crocodile Specialists Group of the IUCN, South Asia and Iran. Personal life He was born on 1 August 1940 in Matara. He completed education from St. Servatius College, Matara. Before entering the field of biology, de Silva was a renowned magician. He won two national awards at All Island Magic Competition and conducted massive shows from Matara to Jaffna. He also published 22 papers on magic. His son Panduka de Silva is also a naturalist where he worked in Andaman Islands on crocodiles. Career While at the school, he rescued a rat snak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher C
Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus, Christ" or "Anointing, Anointed", and φέρειν (''phérein''), "to bear"; hence the "Christ-bearer". As a given name, 'Christopher' has been in use since the 10th century. In English, Christopher may be abbreviated as "Chris", "Topher", and sometimes "Kit (given name), Kit". It was frequently the most popular male first name in the United Kingdom, having been in the top twenty in England and Wales from the 1940s until 1995, although it has since dropped out of the top 100. Within the United Kingdom, the name is most common in England and not so common in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. Cognates in other languages *Afrikaans: Christoffel, Christoforus *Albanian language, Albanian: Kristofer, Kristofor, Kristoforid, Kristo *A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skink
Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Skinks are characterized by their smaller legs in comparison to typical lizards and are found in different habitats except arctic and subarctic regions. Etymology The word ''skink'', which entered the English language around 1580–1590, comes from classical Greek and Latin , names that referred to various specific lizards. Description Skinks look like lizards of the family Lacertidae (sometimes called ''true lizards''), but most species of skinks have no pronounced neck and relatively small legs. Several genera (e.g., ''Typhlosaurus'') have no limbs at all. This is not true for all skinks, however, as some species such as the Tribolonotus gracilis, red-eyed crocodile skink have a head that is ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eutropis
''Eutropis'' is a genus of skinks belonging to the subfamily Mabuyinae. For long, this genus was included in the " wastebin taxon" '' Mabuya''; it contains the Asian mabuyas. They often share their habitat with the related common skinks (''Sphenomorphus''), but they do not compete significantly as their ecological niches differ.Cyberlizards (2004): The Scincidae �''Eutropis'' Version of February 29, 2004. Retrieved March 18, 2009. This genus also contains the only member of the subfamily to occur in Australasia, the many-lined sun skink (''Eutropis multifasciata''), whose wide range includes New Guinea. Description They are mid-sized to largish lizards with cylindrical bodies, tails of medium length, and well-developed arms and legs; the hands and feet have 5 toes each. Their cycloid scales are underlaid by osteoderms; the scales on the back and belly are similar in shape, but those on the back are keeled. The scales on the top of the head are generally flat and subimbricat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reptiles Of Sri Lanka
This is a list of reptiles of Sri Lanka. The reptilian diversity in Sri Lanka is higher than the diversity of other vertebrates such as mammals and fish with 181 reptile species. All extant reptiles are well documented through research by many local and foreign scientists and naturalists. Sri Lankan herpetologist, Anslem de Silva largely studied the biology and ecology of Sri Lanka snakes, where he documented 96 species of land and sea snakes. Five genera are endemic to Sri Lanka - ''Aspidura'', ''Balanophis'', ''Cercaspis'', ''Haplocercus'', and ''Pseudotyphlops''. Out of them only five of the land snakes are considered potentially deadly and life threatening to humans. Among snakes, 54 are endemic to Sri Lanka. The total increased to 107 with new descriptions of ''Dendrelaphis'', ''Rhinophis'', ''Aspidura'' and ''Dryocalamus''. Lizard diversity in the island has been documented and studied by many local scientists and researchers such as Imesh Nuwan Bandara, Kalana Maduwage, Anj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endemic Fauna Of Sri Lanka
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. For example, the Cape sugarbird is found exclusively in southwestern South Africa and is therefore said to be ''endemic'' to that particular part of the world. An endemic species can also be referred to as an ''endemism'' or, in scientific literature, as an ''endemite''. Similarly, many species found in the Western ghats of India are examples of endemism. Endemism is an important concept in conservation biology for measuring biodiversity in a particular place and evaluating the risk of extinction for species. Endemism is also of interest in evolutionary biology, because it provides clues about how changes in the environment cause species to undergo range shifts (potentially expanding their range into a larger area or becomin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reptiles Described In 2008
Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocephalia. About 12,000 living species of reptiles are listed in the Reptile Database. The study of the traditional reptile orders, customarily in combination with the study of modern amphibians, is called herpetology. Reptiles have been subject to several conflicting taxonomic definitions. In Linnaean taxonomy, reptiles are gathered together under the class Reptilia ( ), which corresponds to common usage. Modern cladistic taxonomy regards that group as paraphyletic, since genetic and paleontological evidence has determined that birds (class Aves), as members of Dinosauria, are more closely related to living crocodilians than to other reptiles, and are thus nested among reptiles from an evolutionary perspective. Many cladistic systems therefore redefine Reptilia as a c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taxa Named By Indraneil Das
In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and given a particular ranking, especially if and when it is accepted or becomes established. It is very common, however, for taxonomists to remain at odds over what belongs to a taxon and the criteria used for inclusion, especially in the context of rank-based (" Linnaean") nomenclature (much less so under phylogenetic nomenclature). If a taxon is given a formal scientific name, its use is then governed by one of the nomenclature codes specifying which scientific name is correct for a particular grouping. Initial attempts at classifying and ordering organisms (plants and animals) were presumably set forth in prehistoric times by hunter-gatherers, as suggested by the fairly sophisticated folk taxonomies. Much later, Aristotle, and later still ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
