Lomi's blind legless skink explained

Lomi's blind legless skink (Typhlosaurus lomiae) is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Little Namaqualand in South Africa.

Etymology

The specific name lomiae honours Miss Lomi Wessels Brown, Collection Manager of lower vertebrates and invertebrates at the Transvaal Museum since 1976.^[1]

Taxonomy

In 1986 South African herpetologist Wulf Dietrich Haacke originally named this species Typhlosaurus lomii, which is masculine (genitive singular). In 2004 J. Pieter Michels and Aaron Matthew Bauer corrected the specific name to lomiae, which is feminine (genitive singular) because it honors a woman.^[2]

Description

T. lomiae is limbless. It is blind, slender, and small. The usual snout-to-vent length (SVL) of adults is 10-. Dorsally, it is bright goldish pink. Ventrally, it is whitish and almost translucent.^[3]

Habitat

The preferred habitat of T. lomiae is succulent veld with sandy soil.^[3]

Reproduction

T. lomiae is viviparous.

Further reading

• Haacke WD (1986). "Description of a new species of Typhlosaurus Wiegmann, 1834 (Reptilia: Scincidae) from the west coast of southern Africa, with new records of related species". Annals of the Transvaal Museum 34 (9): 227–235. (Typhlosaurus lomii, new species).

Notes and References

1. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Typhlosaurus lomiae, p. 160).
2. Michels JP, Bauer AM (2004). "Some corrections to the scientific names of amphibians and reptiles". Bonner Zoologische Beiträge 52: 83–94.
3. [:fr:William Roy Branch|Branch, Bill]