Prasinohaema
| Prasinohaema | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Genus: | Prasinohaema Greer, 1974 |
Prasinohaema (Greek: "green blood") is a genus of skinks characterized by having green blood. This condition is caused by an excess buildup of the bile pigment biliverdin.[1] Prasinohaema species have plasma biliverdin concentrations approximately 1.5-30 times greater than fish species with green blood plasma and 40 times greater than humans with green jaundice.[1]
Geographic range
Species in the genus Prasinohaema are endemic to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.[2]
Species
Species in the genus include:[2]
- Prasinohaema flavipes (Parker, 1936) – yellow-footed green-blooded skink
- Prasinohaema parkeri (M.A. Smith, 1937)
- Prasinohaema prehensicauda (Loveridge, 1945)
- Prasinohaema semoni (Oudemans, 1894)
- Prasinohaema virens (W. Peters, 1881) - green green-blooded skink
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Prasinohaema.
Etymology
The specific names, parkeri and semoni, are in honor of English herpetologist Hampton Wildman Parker and German zoologist Richard Wolfgang Semon, respectively.[3]
References
- 1 2 Austin CC, Jessing KW (1994). "Green-blood pigmentation in lizards". Comp. Biochem. Physiol. 109A (3): 619-626.
- 1 2 "Prasinohaema ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
- ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Prasinohaema parkeri, p. 200; P. semoni, p. 240).
Further reading
- Greer AE (1974). "The genetic relationships of the Scincid lizard genus Leiolopisma and its relatives". Australian J. Zool. Supplementary Series 22 (31): 1-67. (Prasinohaema, new genus, p. 12).
External links
- Prasinohaema in the Reptile Database.
- Green Blood episode in O'Shea's Big Adventure.