Lerista
Encyclopedia
Lerista is a diverse genus of skink
endemic to Australia which is especially notable for the variation in the amount of limb reduction (Greer 1990, 1991). The variation ranges from short-bodied forms with large legs bearing five toes, to elongate forms completely lacking legs. The body length of the lizards ranges from 33 millimetres (1.3 in) to 103 millimetres (4.1 in). Their locomotion is linked to their body shape. The shorter skinks with prominent limbs travel on the surface; the longer skinks with reduced legs tend to burrow more. An evolutionary tree of Lerista, derived from DNA analysis (Skinner et al. 2008; Skinner and Lee 2009), reveals limb loss has happened multiple times within this group.
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...
endemic to Australia which is especially notable for the variation in the amount of limb reduction (Greer 1990, 1991). The variation ranges from short-bodied forms with large legs bearing five toes, to elongate forms completely lacking legs. The body length of the lizards ranges from 33 millimetres (1.3 in) to 103 millimetres (4.1 in). Their locomotion is linked to their body shape. The shorter skinks with prominent limbs travel on the surface; the longer skinks with reduced legs tend to burrow more. An evolutionary tree of Lerista, derived from DNA analysis (Skinner et al. 2008; Skinner and Lee 2009), reveals limb loss has happened multiple times within this group.
Species
- Lerista aericeps
- Lerista allanae
- Lerista allochira
- Lerista ameles
- Lerista apoda
- Lerista arenicola
- Lerista axillaris
- Lerista baynesi
- Lerista bipes
- Lerista borealis
- Lerista bougainvillii
- Lerista bunglebungle
- Lerista carpentariae
- Lerista chalybura
- Lerista christinae
- Lerista cinerea
- Lerista colliveri
- Lerista connivens
- Lerista desertorum
- Lerista distinguenda
- Lerista dorsalis
- Lerista edwardsae
- Lerista elegans
- Lerista elongata
- Lerista emmotti
- Lerista eupoda
- Lerista flammicauda
- Lerista fragilis
- Lerista frosti
- Lerista gascoynensis
- Lerista gerrardii
- Lerista greeri
- Lerista griffini
- Lerista haroldi
- Lerista humphriesi
- Lerista ingrami
- Lerista ips
- Lerista kalumburu
- Lerista karlschmidti
- Lerista kendricki
- Lerista kennedyensis
- Lerista labialis
- Lerista lineata
- Lerista lineopunctulata
- Lerista macropisthopus
- Lerista maculosa
- Lerista microtis
- Lerista muelleri
- Lerista neander
- Lerista nichollsi
- Lerista onsloviana
- Lerista orientalis
- Lerista petersoni
- Lerista picturata
- Lerista planiventralis
- Lerista praefrontalis
- Lerista praepedita
- Lerista punctatovittata
- Lerista puncticauda
- Lerista quadrivincula
- Lerista robusta
- Lerista separanda
- Lerista simillima
- Lerista speciosa
- Lerista stictopleura
- Lerista storri
- Lerista stylis
- Lerista taeniata
- Lerista talpina
- Lerista terdigitata
- Lerista tridactyla
- Lerista uniduo
- Lerista varia
- Lerista vermicularis
- Lerista viduata
- Lerista vittata
- Lerista walkeri
- Lerista wilkinsi
- Lerista xanthura
- Lerista yuna
- Lerista zonulata