Gardiner's Burrowing Skink

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia (paraphyletic)
(unranked)	Sauria
Order:	Squamata (paraphyletic)
Infraorder:	Scincomorpha
Family:	Scincidae
Subfamily:	see text
Genus:	Pamelaescincus Greer, 1970
Species:	P. gardineri

Binomial name

Pamelaescincus gardineri
(Boulenger, 1909)

Gardiner's Burrowing Skink (Pamelaescincus gardineri) is the only species of the skink genus Pamelaescincus.

It is usually placed in the subfamily Scincinae which seems to be paraphyletic however. Probably quite close to Janetaescincus, it belongs to a major clade which does not seem to include the type genus Scincus. Thus, it will probably be eventually assigned to a new, yet-to-be-named subfamily.(Austin & Arnold 2006)

Pamelaescincus gardineri is found only in the Seychelles. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, where it buries in the leaf litter and soil.

Populations are locally affected by introduced predators and habitat destruction, but unlike its relatives, it is not considered an endangered species by the IUCN (Gerlach & Ineich 2006).

[edit] References

Austin, J.J. & Arnold, E.N. (2006): Using ancient and recent DNA to explore relationships of extinct and endangered Leiolopisma skinks (Reptilia: Scincidae) in the Mascarene islands. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39(2): 503–511. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.12.011 (HTML abstract)
Gerlach, J. & Ineich, I. (1996). Pamelaescincus gardineri. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 10 Jul 2007. Database entry includes justification why this species is of least concern.