Sirenoscincus mobydick
Sirenoscincus mobydick is a species of mermaid skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. Mermaid skinks have only forelimbs, no hind limbs, hence the common name "mermaid skink". This species has forelimbs shaped like flippers.
This species is endemic to Madagascar, specifically the Sofia Region. The type locality is the urban commune of Boriziny (French: Port-Bergé), Sofia Region, Madagascar.
The scientific name Sirenoscincus mobydick consists of the the pre-existing parent genus Sirenoscincus, and the name of the white sperm whale from the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. The species name is appropriate because whales have no hind limbs, only forelimbs shaped like flippers, and so does this species of skink.
In 2012, the species was first described in a paper by French herpetologists Aurélien Miralles, Miguel Vences, and other research members.[1]
References
- ^ Aurélien Miralles, Mirana Anjeriniaina, Christy A. Hipsley, Johannes Müller, Frank Glaw, Miguel Vences (December 2012). "Variations on a bauplan: description of a new Malagasy "mermaid skink" with flipper-like forelimbs only (Scincidae, Sirenoscincus Sakata & Hikida, 2003)". Zoosystema. doi:10.5252/z2012n4a3. http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.5252/z2012n4a3.
