Nessia gansi

Nessia gansi, or Gans' three-toed snake skink, is a species of skink endemic to island of Sri Lanka.

Gans' three-toed snake skink
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Nessia
Species:
N. gansi
Binomial name
Nessia gansi
Batuwita & Edirisinghe, 2017

Habitat & distribution

Restricted to low-land wet zone up to 100m and known localities include Kanneliya, Kottawa, Rumaswala, Ambalangoda and Imaduwa.

Description

Midbody scales rows 22-26. Ventral scales 103-114. Infralabials 93-105. Snout acutely pointed. Parietals completely separated by interparietal. Each limb having three digits. Dorsum dark brown and each dorsal scale with a distinct posterior dark spot. Dusky brown venter

Ecology

Found in loose soil, in leaf debris, close to rubbish heaps in home gardens. It prefers damp forests or home gardens

Etymology

Named in honour of the American herpetologist Carl Gans (September 7, 1923 - November 30, 2009)

References

Further reading

  • Batuwita, Sudesh; Udeni Edirisinghe 2017. Nessia gansi: a Second Three-toed Snake-Skink (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) from Sri Lanka with the Designation of a Neotype for Nessia burtonii Gray Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle «Grigore Antipa» 60 (1): 377–388
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