Lerista Explained

Lerista is a diverse (~ 90 species) genus of skinks endemic to Australia, commonly known as sliders.^[1]

Description

The genus is especially notable for the variation in the amount of limb reduction.^{[2] [3]} The variation ranges from short-bodied forms with large legs bearing five toes, to elongate forms completely lacking legs. The body length of the lizards is 33-. Their locomotion is linked to their body shape. The shorter skinks with prominent limbs travel on the surface; the longer skinks with reduced legs tend to burrow more. A phylogenetic tree of Lerista, derived from DNA analysis, reveals that limb loss has happened multiple times within this group.^{[4] [5]} Limb loss has occurred relatively recently, in the past 3.6 million years or so.

Species

The following species are recognized as being valid.^[6]

Note: a binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Lerista.

• Lerista aericeps – desert plain slider
• Lerista alia – Bulleringa fine-lined slider
• Lerista allanae – Allan's lerista, Allan's skink, greater robust fine-lined slider
• Lerista allochira – Cape Range slider
• Lerista ameles – limbless fine-lined slider
• Lerista amicorum – Fortescue three-toed slider
• Lerista anyara – Olkola slider skink
• Lerista apoda – Dampier Land limbless slider
• Lerista arenicola – bight slider
• Lerista axillaris – stripe-sided robust slider
• Lerista baynesi – Bayne's slider
• Lerista bipes – north-western sandslider
• Lerista borealis – inland Kimberley slider
• Lerista bougainvillii – Bougainville's skink
• Lerista bunglebungle – Bunglebungle robust slider
• Lerista carpentariae – Carpentaria fine-lined slider
• Lerista chalybura – Pilbara blue-tailed slider
• Lerista chordae – lyre-patterned slider
• Lerista christinae – bold-striped slider, Christina's lerista
• Lerista cinerea – vine-thicket fine-lined slider
• Lerista clara – sharp-blazed three-toed slider
• Lerista colliveri – nubbinned fine-lined slider
• Lerista connivens – blinking broad-blazed slider
• Lerista desertorum – Central Deserts robust slider
• Lerista distinguenda – south-western orange-tailed slider
• Lerista dorsalis – southern slider
• Lerista edwardsae – Myall slider
• Lerista elegans – elegant slider
• Lerista elongata – wide-striped mulch slider
• Lerista emmotti – Noonbah robust slider
• Lerista eupoda – Meekatharra slider
• Lerista flammicauda – Pilbara flame-tailed slider
• Lerista fragilis – eastern mulch-slider
• Lerista frosti – centralian slider
• Lerista gascoynensis – Gascoyne broad-blazed slider
• Lerista gerrardii – bold-striped robust slider
• Lerista greeri – south-eastern Kimberley sandslider
• Lerista griffini – stout sandslider
• Lerista haroldi – Gnaraloo mulch-slider
• Lerista hobsoni
• Lerista humphriesi – taper-tailed west-coast slider
• Lerista ingrami – McIvor River slider
• Lerista ips – robust duneslider
• Lerista jacksoni – Jackson's three-toed slider, Jackson's slider
• Lerista kalumburu – Kalumburu slider
• Lerista karlschmidti – lesser robust fine-lined slider
• Lerista kendricki – dark broad-blazed slider
• Lerista kennedyensis – Kennedy Range broad-blazed slider
• Lerista kingi – King's three-toed slider, King's slider
• Lerista labialis – southern sandslider
• Lerista lineata – Perth slider
• Lerista lineopunctulata – dotted-line robust slider, West Coast line-spotted lerista
• Lerista macropisthopus – unpatterned robust slider
• Lerista micra – micro three-toed slider, little slider
• Lerista microtis – south-western slider
• Lerista miopus
• Lerista muelleri – wood mulch-slider, Mueller's three-toed lerista
• Lerista neander – Pilbara robust slider
• Lerista nevinae – Nevin's three-toed slider, Nevin's slider
• Lerista nichollsi – inland broad-blazed slider
• Lerista occulta – hidden three-toed slider, Carnarvon slider
• Lerista onsloviana – Onslow broad-blazed slider
• Lerista orientalis – north-eastern orange-tailed slider
• Lerista parameles – Chillagoe fine-lined slider
• Lerista petersoni – pale broad-blazed slider
• Lerista picturata – southern robust slider
• Lerista planiventralis – keeled slider
• Lerista praefrontalis – Yampi sandslider
• Lerista praepedita – western worm lerista, blunt-tailed west-coast slider
• Lerista punctatovittata – eastern robust slider
• Lerista puncticauda – dotty-tailed robust slider
• Lerista quadrivincula – four-chained slider
• Lerista robusta – brad-eyed sandslider
• Lerista rochfordensis – Rochford slider
• Lerista rolfei – Rolfe's three-toed slider, Rolfe's slider
• Lerista separanda – Dampierland plain slider
• Lerista simillima – Fitzroy sandslider
• Lerista speciosa – pale-striped mulch-slider
• Lerista stictopleura – spotted broad-blazed slider
• Lerista storri – Mount Surprise slider, Storr's lerista
• Lerista stylis – Arnhem Coast fine-lined slider
• Lerista taeniata – ribbon slider, ribbon lerista
• Lerista terdigitata - robust mulch-slider
• Lerista timida – dwarf three-toed slider, wood mulch-slider
• Lerista tridactyla – dark-backed mulch-slider
• Lerista uniduo – slender broad-blazed slider
• Lerista vanderduysi – leaden-bellied fine-lined slider
• Lerista varia – Shark Bay broad-blazed slider
• Lerista verhmens – powerful three-toed slider
• Lerista vermicularis – slender duneslider
• Lerista viduata – Ravensthorpe Range slider
• Lerista vittata – Mount Cooper striped lerista, side-striped fine-lined slider
• Lerista walkeri – coastal Kimberley slider
• Lerista wilkinsi – two-toed fine-lined slider
• Lerista xanthura – yellow-tailed plain slider
• Lerista yuna – Yuna broad-blazed slider
• Lerista zonulata – north-eastern orange-tailed slider

Further reading

• Bell, Thomas (1833). "Characters of two New Genera of Reptiles". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1833 (1): 98–99. (Lerista, new genus, p. 99).

External links

• Herpetology - Limb reduction in Australian lizards

Notes and References

1. Web site: Australian endangered species: Retro Slider. 7 March 2013. Vanderduys, Eric. species:Eric P. Vanderduys. The Conversation: Latest Ideas and Research.
2. Greer, Allen E..

   fr:Allen Eddy Greer

   . 1990. Limb reduction in the scincid lizard genus Lerista. 2. Variation in the bone complements of the front and rear limbs and the number of postsacral vertebrae. Journal of Herpetology. 24. 2. 142–150. 10.2307/1564221. 1564221.
3. Greer, Allen E. . 1991 . Limb reduction in squamates: identification of the lineages and discussion of the trends . . 25 . 2 . 166–173 . 10.2307/1564644 . 1564644.
4. Skinner, Adam . species:Adam Skinner. Lee, Michael S. Y. . species:Michael S.Y. Lee. 2009. Body form evolution in the scincid lizard clade Lerista and the mode of macroevolutionary transitions. Evolutionary Biology. 36. 3. 292–300. 10.1007/s11692-009-9064-9. 2009EvBio..36..292S . 42060285 .
5. Skinner, Adam. Lee, Michael S. Y.. Hutchinson, Mark N.. species:Mark Norman Hutchinson. 2008. Rapid and repeated limb loss in a clade of scincid lizards. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 8. 1 . 310. 10.1186/1471-2148-8-310. 2596130. 19014443 . free . 2008BMCEE...8..310S .
6. www.reptile-database.org.