''Scincus hemprichii'' is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
lizard
Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...
in the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Scincidae. The species is native to the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
.
Etymology
The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''hemprichii'', is in honor of German naturalist
Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich.
[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Scincus hemprichii'', p. 120).]
Geographic range
''S. hemprichii'' is found in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
and
Yemen
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
.
Habitat
The preferred natural
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
of ''S. hemprichii'' is sandy
desert
A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...
.
Behavior
''S. hemprichii'' is
terrestrial
Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial.
Terrestrial may also refer to:
* Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...
and
nocturnal
Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite.
Nocturnal creatur ...
.
Reproduction
The
mode of reproduction of ''S. helmichii'' is unknown.
[
]
References
Further reading
*Fritz, J. Peter; Schütte, Felix (1988). "''Skinke aus der Arabischen Republik Jemen'' ". ''Salamandra'' 24 (1): 41–52. (''Scincus hemprichii'', pp. 49–50, Figures 5–6). (in German, with an abstract in English).
* Paray, Bilal A.; Al-Mfarij, Abdul Rahman; Al-Sadoon, Mohammad K. (2017). "Food habits of the Arabian skink, ''Scincus hemprichii'' Wiegmann, 1837, (Sauria: Scincidae), in the Southwest Saudi Arabia". ''Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences'' 25 (1): 90–93.
* Sindaco R, Jeremčenko VK (2008). ''The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia''. (Monographs of the ''Societas Herpetologica Italica''). Latina, Italy: Edizioni Belvedere. 580 pp. .
* Wiegmann AFA (1837). "''Herpetologische Notizen'' ". ''Archiv für Naturgeschichte'' 3 (1): 123–136. (''Scincus hemprichii'', new species, p. 128). (in German and Latin).
hemprichii
Reptiles described in 1837
Taxa named by Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann
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