Brachymeles miriamae (Miriam's Legless Skink)
The common name of this Skink Lizard in English is commonly called Miriam's Skink, Miriam's Legless Skink and Thai name called จิ้งเหลนด้วงปักธงชัย (Djing-len Duang Pak-Thong-Chai).
จิ้งเหลนด้วงปักธงชัย : Brachymeles miriamae (Heyer, 1972)
Brachymeles miriamae is a species of the Legless Skink Lizard Genus (Brachymeles) within the Subfamily Scincinae, in the Skink Lizard Family (Scincidae), Superfamily Scincomorpha, in the Lizard and Snake Order (Squamata), in the Reptile Class (Reptilia), in the Chordate Phylum (Chordata) in the Animal Kingdom (Animalia).
Published in Heyer, W.R. A new limbless skink (Reptilia: Scincidae) from Thailand with comments on the generic status of the limbless skinks of southeast Asia. Fieldiana: Zoology 58 (10): 109-129. (1972).
The specific epithet 'miriamae' is named after the author’s wife, Miriam.
Geographic Range
This species is known only from Sakaerat, Wang Nam Khieo District, and from Kham Thale So, Kham Sakaesaeng (W. Thaksintham, unpubl. data), Nakhon Ratchasima Province, in central Thailand (Chan-ard et al. 2015)
Habitat and Ecology
This species inhabits dry evergreen forest. It is found in forest leaf debris, under rocks, in loose soil with depth of 15 cm or on the surface (Chan-ard et al. 2015). It has also been found in rice fields on saline soils (W. Thaksintham, unpubl. data)
Type locality: Khao Saton, 300 m above the Kasetsart University Forestry station, 60 km S of Nakhon Ratchasima on Highway 304, Amphoe Pak Thong Chai, Changwat Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.
Diagnosis
The only scincine genera in which some or all of the species are limbless are: Barkudia, Brachymeles, Cryptoposcincus, Davewakeum,Grandidierina, Malacontias, Melanoseps, Nessia, Ophiomorus, Paracontias, Pseudoacontias, Scelotes, Scolecoseps, Sepsophis, Typhlacontias, Voeltzkowia. Barkudia and Sepsophis differ from Davewakeum in having an external ear.
The remainder of the genera either lack an external ear or the character is variable among species within a genus. Ophiomorus has a transparent disk in the lower eyelid. Davewakeum has a thickened, opaque lower eyelid.
Brachymeles, Melanoseps, Scelotes, Scolecoseps, and Typhlacontias have supranasal scales:Davewakeum lacks supranasal scales. Cryptoposcincus, Grandidierina, Malacontias, Nessia, Paracontias, Pseudoacontias, and Voeltzkowia lack prefrontal scales, Davewakeum has prefrontal scales [from HEYER 1972].
Synonym
- Davewakeum miriamae William Ronald Heyer (1972)
- Davewakeum miriamae Allen Eddy Greer (2002)
- Brachymeles miriamae Cameron D. Siler et al. (2011)
- Davewakeum miriamae Tanya Chan-Ard et al. (2015)