Prasinohaema Explained

Prasinohaema (Greek: "green blood") is a genus of skinks characterized by having green blood. This condition is caused by an excess buildup of the bile pigment biliverdin.^[1] Prasinohaema species have plasma biliverdin concentrations approximately 1.5-30 times greater than fish species with green blood plasma and 40 times greater than humans with green jaundice.^[1] The benefit provided by the high pigment concentration is unknown, but one possibility is that it protects against malaria.^{[2] [3]}

Geographic range

Species in the genus Prasinohaema are endemic to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Species

Species in the genus include:^[4]

• Prasinohaema flavipes – common green tree skink
• Prasinohaema parkeri – Parker's green tree skink
• Prasinohaema prehensicauda – prehensile green tree skink
• Prasinohaema semoni – Semon's green tree skink
• Prasinohaema virens - green-blooded skink, green tree skink

Nota bene

A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Prasinohaema.

Etymology

The specific names, parkeri and semoni, are in honor of English herpetologist Hampton Wildman Parker and German zoologist Richard Wolfgang Semon, respectively.^[5]

Further reading

• Greer AE (1974). "The genetic relationships of the Scincid lizard genus Leiolopisma and its relatives". Australian J. Zool. Supplementary Series 22 (31): 1-67. (Prasinohaema, new genus, p. 12).

External links

• Prasinohaema in the Reptile Database.
• Green Blood episode in O'Shea's Big Adventure.

Notes and References

1. Austin. Christopher C.. Jessing. Kevin W.. Green-blood pigmentation in lizards. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology. 109. 3. 1994. 619–626. 10.1016/0300-9629(94)90201-1.
2. Web site: Lizards' Green Blood Evolved Four Times. Grens. Kerry. 2018-05-16. The Scientist. 2018-05-18.
3. Web site: Some lizards have green blood that should kill them – and scientists can't work out why. Malhotra, Anita. 23 May 2018. The Independent.
4. . www.reptile-database.org.
5. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Prasinohaema parkeri, p. 200; P. semoni, p. 240).