Scincidae

Villa, Andrea & Delfino, Massimo, 2019, A comparative atlas of the skull osteology of European lizards (Reptilia: Squamata), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 187 (3), pp. 828-928 : 842

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz035
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/9C298799-D24F-5A37-FF1F-FEAB22F5A97A
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Scincidae
status

Treatment

Scincidae View in CoL ( Figs 5O–X View Figure 5 , 6G–I View Figure 6 )

The unpaired parietal of scincids has a straight anterior margin and poorly developed anterolateral processes, forming small, rounded and anteriorly directed parietal tabs. Those of Chalcides ocellatus are strongly developed in the lateral direction, giving a concave shape to the lateral margins of the bone ( Fig. 5S, T View Figure 5 ). A moderate lateral development is visible in Tr. aurata too ( Fig. 5W, X View Figure 5 ). A small and triangular process, whose development is strongly variable in different individuals, can be present in the middle of the anterior margin of Chalcides ocellatus and Chalcides striatus ( Fig. 5S, T View Figure 5 ). The supratemporal processes are long, thin and pointed in Chalcides chalcides , Chalcides striatus and Tr. aurata ( Figs 5Q, R, W, X View Figure 5 , 6I View Figure 6 ), long, slender and posteriorly rounded in Ophiomorus punctatissimus ( Figs 5U, V View Figure 5 , 6H View Figure 6 ), and long, robust and posteriorly rounded in Chalcides ocellatus ( Figs 5S, T View Figure 5 , 6G View Figure 6 ). In the latter species, they have a distinct angle at midlength in dorsal view. Ablepharus kitaibelii has short, slender and pointed supratemporal processes ( Fig. 5O, P View Figure 5 ). On the dorsal surface, a weak dermal ornamentation is present in the middle of the anterior-half of the table, whereas the rest of it is smooth. The ornamentation is clearly divided into three portions by two sulci: the central portion is the interparietal shield, whereas the smaller lateral ones are the lateral shields ( Fig. 5Q View Figure 5 ). In Chalcides ocellatus , the ornamentation covering the lateral areas is poorly developed (barely recognizable), but it reaches the lateral margins of the table ( Fig. 5S View Figure 5 ). On the other hand, the ornamentation is slightly more developed and reaches both the lateral and the anterior margins in Tr. aurata ( Fig. 5W View Figure 5 ), whereas in Ab. kitaibelii and Ophiomorus punctatissimus it is represented only by light grooves (sometimes completely absent in the former; Fig. 5Q, U View Figure 5 ). The ventral surface is smooth, except for the presence of the ventral crests (as in lacertids). Those of Ab. kitaibelii , Chalcides chalcides , Chalcides striatus , Ophiomorus punctatissimus and Tr. aurata are less developed and only the anterolateral and posterolateral ones touch each other ( Fig. 5P, R, V, X View Figure 5 ). Chalcides ocellatus has robust ventral crests that are always all in contact ( Fig. 5T View Figure 5 ). The parietal fossa is narrow and shallow in Chalcides chalcides ( Fig. 5R View Figure 5 ), larger and deeper in Chalcides ocellatus ( Fig. 5T View Figure 5 ) and Tr. aurata ( Fig. 5X View Figure 5 ), and moderately large and shallow in Ab. kitaibelii ( Fig. 5P View Figure 5 ) and Chalcides striatus . The fossa of Ophiomorus punctatissimus is narrow, but its depth cannot be defined, because it is completely covered by a laminar extension of the median ventral crest ( Fig. 5V View Figure 5 ). A suture line is distinctly visible longitudinally in the middle of the ventral surface of the parietal of Ophiomorus punctatissimus MDHC 427 ( Fig. 5V View Figure 5 ). The posterior margin of the parietal is characterized by the presence of two pointed processes (forked in Chalcides chalcides MDHC 398; Fig. 5Q, R View Figure 5 ), which develop posteriorly and define a wide (narrow in Ophiomorus punctatissimus ; Fig. 5U, V View Figure 5 ) parietal notch. These processes are wide and relatively short in Chalcides chalcides and Chalcides striatus ( Fig. 5Q, R View Figure 5 ), long and wide in Ophiomorus punctatissimus ( Fig. 5U, V View Figure 5 ), and long and thin in Chalcides ocellatus ( Fig. 5S, T View Figure 5 ). Ablepharus kitaibelii and Tr. aurata have only two wide and posteriorly rounded tabs, which are very short in the latter ( Fig. 5W, X View Figure 5 ) and slightly longer in the former ( Fig. 5O, P View Figure 5 ). The notch is U-shaped or, exceptionally, V-shaped ( Chalcides chalcides MDHC 398 and Chalcides striatus MDHC 404), but can have an irregular margin. Except for Ab. kitaibelii and Tr. aurata , a long and thin (moderately wide in Ophiomorus punctatissimus ) epipterygoid process is present in the middle of each lateral margin, developing in the ventral direction ( Fig. 6G, H View Figure 6 ). In the two aforementioned species, the same process is short and triangular ( Fig. 6I View Figure 6 ). The parietal foramen is wide, subcircular and located in the middle of the table. It can be partially or completely obliterated by the dermal ornamentation (e.g. in Tr. aurata MDHC 208; Fig. 5W, X View Figure 5 ). Measurements are given in the Supporting Information 4.