Riopa Gray, 1839

Bhupathi, Bharath, Ray, Sumidh, Karuthapandi, M., Jaiswal, Deepa, Deepak, V. & Mohapatra, Pratyush P., 2025, A new species of Riopa Gray, 1839 (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) from the Eastern Ghats, India, Zootaxa 5647 (2), pp. 117-130 : 126

Key to the species of the genus Riopa Gray, 1839

All species of the genus Riopa are characterized by the following characters: body size small to medium (SVL 35–114 mm); trunk moderately elongate (AGD 55–78.4% SVL); digits short to long; MB 19–30; PVT 70–115; lower eyelid scaly or with a transparent disc; supranasal scales in contact medially, occasionally barely touching; prefrontals not in contact medially; fronto-parietal single or paired; parietals in contact behind interparietal; enlarged nuchal scales usually present, occasionally absent. Diagnostic characters as per Geissler et al. (2012), Freitas et al. (2019) and Bhilala et al. (2021) with some modifications for additional characters.

1a. lower eyelid scaly.................................................................................... (2)

1b. lower eyelid with a semi-transparent disk................................................................. (3)

2a. a pair of fronto-parietals.................................................................... R. albopunctata

2b. fronto-parietal single.......................................................................... R. lineolata

3a. with distinct longitudinal lines on dorsum made of continuous series of spots.................................... (7)

3b. without distinct longitudinal lines on dorsum.............................................................. (4)

4a. paravertebral scale rows more than 80.................................................................... (5)

4b. paravertebral scale rows less than 80.............................................................. R. punctata

5a. midbody scale rows 22......................................................................... R. anguina

5b. midbody scale rows 24–28............................................................................. (6)

6a. lamellae under 4 th toe 7........................................................................... R. popae

6b. lamellae under 4 th toe 11–14.................................................................... R. guentheri

7a. five fingers........................................................................................ (8)

7b. four fingers.................................................................................. R. lineata

8a. four toes................................................................................... R. vosmaerii

8b. five toes.......................................................................... R. deccanensis sp. nov.