Eutropis rugifera (Stoliczka, 1870)

Figueroa, Alex, Low, Martyn E. Y. & Lim, Kelvin K. P., 2023, Singapore’s herpetofauna: updated and annotated checklist, history, conservation, and distribution, Zootaxa 5287 (1), pp. 1-378 : 123-124

Eutropis rugifera (Stoliczka, 1870) — Native.

Tiliqua rugifera Stoliczka, 1870a: 105 . Holotype: ZSI 2350 , by original designation. Type locality: “Nicobars”, Nicobar Islands, India; later restricted to “Camorta (Nicobars), in the forest near the new settlement”, Nicobar Islands, India by Stoliczka (1870d: 171).

Striped Sun Skink

( Figure 14H ; Sime Road Forest)

Singapore records.

Mabuia rugifera — Flower, 1899: 645 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).— Boulenger, 1912: 84.—Sworder, 1925a: 67.

Mabuya rugifera —K. Lim, 1990a: 9 (Hampstead Hut Path [BTNR]; Nee Soon Swamp Forest).—K.K.P. Lim & L.M. Chou, 1990: 55.— Denzer & Manthey, 1991: 317.—K.K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 1992: 101, 149.—R. Subaraj, 1994: 11 (Eastern Boundary Trail [BTNR]).—L.M. Chou et al., 1994: 106.—K.K.P. Lim, 1994b: 331.—L.M. Chou, 1995: 147.—R. Subaraj, 1996: 101.—R.C.H. Teo & Rajathurai, 1997: 387 (Fern Valley [BTNR]; Main Road [BTNR]; Nee Soon East [NSSF]; Taban & Lasia Valleys [BTNR]; Thomson Ridge Forest).— Manthey & Grossmann, 1997: 273.—Chan-ard et al., 1999: 27.—K.P. Lim & F.L.K. Lim, 2002: 149.

Eutropis rugifera — Cox et al., 1998: 111.— Das, 2010: 234.—L.L. Grismer, 2011b: 582, 584.—H.H. Tan & K.K.P. Lim, 2012: 362.—M.A.H. Chua, 2014g: 223 (Thomson Ridge [TRF]).—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 159 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).—A. Tay, 2019a: 77.— Janssen & Sy, 2022: 112, 166.— Kurniawan et al., 2022: 111.

Eutropis rugiferus —N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2008: 86, 160.—K.K.P. Lim et al., 2008: 168, 265.—N. Baker & K.P. Lim, 2012: 86, 160.—K.W. Chan, 2014a: 48 (Dairy Farm Loop [BTNR]).—S. Subaraj, 2015: 3 (Upper Seletar Peninsula [= USNF]).—R.C.H. Teo & Thomas, 2019: 180 (Bukit Timah Nature Reserve).

Remarks. Flower (1899) collected the first two specimens of E. rugifera from the Malay Peninsula, having obtained the first one in Peninsular Malaysia at Batu Caves, Selangor in June 1898, and the second one in Singapore at BTNR in September 1898. From Peninsular Malaysia, Sworder (1933) noted four specimens from Perak that were deposited at the Raffles Museum, but in Singapore E. rugifera was next documented 92 years later ( Table 2 ) when Lim (1990a) reported one seen at NSSF on 30 April 1990 and another at BTNR on 22 November 1990. The only other records of E. rugifera include one from BTNR on 28 August 1993 (Subaraj 1994), six individuals observed by Teo & Rajathurai (1997), one at BTNR on 26 January 2014 ( Chan 2014a), one on a tree trunk at TRF on 29 June 2014 ( Chua 2014g), another perched on a tree trunk at SRF on 9 January 2016 (I.S. Law pers. comm.; Fig. 14H ), and three from BTNR (Teo & Thomas 2019). Eutropis rugifera is considered to represent a species complex (Amarasinghe et al. 2017) that can be split into six major clades: 1) Nicobar Island and Sumatra; 2) Mentawai Archipelago; 3) Peninsular Malaysia; 4) Borneo; 5) Bawean Island, and 6) Bali (Karin et al. 2017).

Occurrence. Restricted to CNR. Uncommon.

Singapore conservation status. Vulnerable.

Conservation priority. Highest.

IUCN conservation status. Least Concern [2018].

LKCNHM & NHMUK Museum specimens. Singapore (no locality) : BMNH 1899.2 .21.1 (no date); Nee Soon Swamp Forest : ZRC.2.2598 (30-Apr-1990) .

Additional Singapore museum specimens. No specimens.

Singapore localities. Bukit Timah Nature Reserve—Nee Soon Swamp Forest—Sime Road Forest—Thomson Ridge Forest—Upper Seletar North Forest.

Genus Lipinia Gray, 1845 (1 species)

Figures

FIGURE 14. A) Hemiphyllodactylus typus, B) Lepidodactylus lugubris, C) Iguana iguana, D) Dasia grisea, E) Dasia olivacea, F) Emoia atrocostata, G) Eutropis multifasciatus, and H) Eutropis rugifera. Photographs by: Alex Figueroa [A, G], Holly Siow [B], Kelvin K.P. Lim [C], Law Ing Sind [D, H], Chloe Tan [E], and Nick Baker [F].