Род ящериц Cryptoblepharus: Систематика и характеристики

Genus of lizards

Cryptoblepharus is a genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae. The genus contains at least 53 species.

The genus Cryptoblepharus was established in 1834 by the zoologist Arend Friedrich August Wiegmann. The type species of the genus was not nominated by the author, but this was assigned to Ablepharus poecilipleurus Wiegmann, 1834 in a revision by Leonhard Stejneger published in 1899. An emendation to the name as Cryptoblepharis by J. T. Cocteau in 1836 is considered a synonym, as is Petia, the name published by John Edward Gray in 1839 without a type or description. Cryptoblepharus species, some of which are often seen in urban environments, are commonly named as fence skinks, or by characteristics such as their lack of eyelids, snake eyed skinks, or as shining skinks for their glossy skins.

Member species of the genus Cryptoblepharus are small bodied, lack eyelids, are pentadactyl, and have shiny scales. They are able to move rapidly and with great agility, snatching insects from the air and climbing vertical surfaces with ease. They are often observed basking in the sun and disappearing into a hole or crevice in response to a perceived threat. Females may share a site to deposit their eggs, the species returning annually to lay a small clutch. The author, Paul Horner of the Northern Territory Museum, published revised systematics that sampled widely distributed populations in the Australian region, with small samples of taxa from other regions, to identify twenty five taxa in Australia, another thirteen in the southwest of the Indian oceanic area, and a further twenty four in the Indo Pacific, listing 62 taxonomic descriptions of the genus in total.