''Voeltzkowia'' is a
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
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 o ...
s.
Geographic range
The genus ''Voeltzkowia'' is
endemic
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 foun ...
to
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
.
Species
Three
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), ...
are recognized as being valid.
["''Voeltzkowia'' ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.]
*''
Voeltzkowia mira''
*''
Voeltzkowia mobydick''
*''
Voeltzkowia yamagishii''
''
Nota bene
( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''.
In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...
'': A
binomial authority
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...
in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Voeltzkowia''.
The species ''V. mobydick'' and ''V. yamagishii'' were formerly in the genus ''Sirenoscincus''.
The species formerly known as ''Voeltzkowia fierinensis, V. lineata, V. petiti'', and
''V. rubrocaudata'' have been assigned to the genus ''
Grandidierina''.
Etymology
The
generic name, ''Voeltzkowia'', is in honor of German biologist
Alfred Voeltzkow.
[ Boettger 1893, p. 116.]
References
Further reading
*
Boettger O (1893). ''Katalog der Reptilien-Sammlung im Museum der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Frankfurt am Main. I. Teil (Rhynchocephalen, Schildkröten, Krokodile, Eidechsen, Chamäleons).'' Frankfurt am Main: Gebrüder Knauer. x + 140 pp. (''Voeltzkowia'', new genus, p. 116; ''V. mira'', new species, pp. 116–117). (in German).
Lizard genera
Taxa named by Oskar Boettger
Endemic fauna of Madagascar
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