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Family : SCINCIDAE
Species : Lipinia microcerca
Size (snout to vent) : to 4.2 cm
Size (total length) : to ~ 10 cm
Lipinia microcerca
(Banded Lipinia) is a diurnal and mainly arboreal lizard which occurs in
diverse habitats in lowland and hilly areas of central and southern Vietnam,
Cambodia, southern Laos and eastern Thailand. In Vietnam it occurs up to
1200 metres elevation. (Nikolay et al, 2019).
Prior to 2019 this skink was treated as a subspecies of Lipinia
vittigera (Yellow Striped Tree Skink).
The upperside of the tail is typically bright orange; this colour may extend
onto the sides of the tail.
Nikolay et al (2019) describe the striped pattern of the type specimen
(from Phuoc Son District, Quang Nam Province, Vietnam) in great details as
follows: "Thin middorsal light stripe from snout tip to tail base;
two paravertebral dark stripes from supraoculars toward tail, continuing on
anterior part of tail; two distinct dorsolateral light stripes; broad
lateral dark stripe from temporals to anterior part of tail; one distinct
lateral light stripe, separated from belly by narrow ventrolateral dark
stripe or longitudinal patch of dark spots."
The example shown here, from Siem Reap, Cambodia, clearly agrees with the
above description. Whilst being photographed this lizard was observed to
wag, wave, wriggle and twist its highly flexible tail in the air above the
body in what seemed to be a display behaviour.
This small skink forages on tree trunks, often in strong sunlight, for
spiders and small insects, including ants.
Figs 1 and 2 : Example from Siem Reap, Cambodia on the trunk of a large tree.
The habitat comprised widely-spaced trees with no understorey; the
ground was covered in dipterocarp leaves, short grass and weeds. Photos thanks to Derek Clark.
References :
Nikolay A. Poyarkov Jr., Peter Geissler, Vladislav A. Gorin, Evgeniy A.
Dunayev, Timo Hartmann, Chatmongkon Suwannapoom (2019). Counting
stripes: revision of the Lipinia vittigera complex (Reptilia, Squamata,
Scincidae) with description of two new species from Indochina.
Zoological Research, 2019, 40(5): 358-393.
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