Mabuyinae
Temporal range: Miocene - Present
Many-striped Skink (Eutropis multifasciata)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Subfamily: Mabuyinae
Mittleman, 1952
Genera

See text

Mabuyinae is a subfamily of skinks within the family Scincidae.[1] The genera in this subfamily were previously found to belong the Mabuya group in the large subfamily Lygosominae.[2]

They have a pantropical distribution, being found throughout the tropics of Asia, Africa, and the Americas (but excluding most of Australasia aside from Eutropis multifasciata, found in New Guinea). Although originating in and having most species in the Old World, they managed to colonize the Americas in the Miocene; the common ancestor of the American genera is thought to have rafted across the Atlantic from Africa to South America about 18 million years ago, with the skinks diversifying across the Americas and evolving into many new genera.[3]

6 genera (Alinea, Capitellum, Copeoglossum, Mabuya, Marisora, Spondylurus) are found in the Caribbean (with Alinea, Capitellum, Mabuya, and Spondylurus being exclusively Caribbean genera, while Marisora and Copeoglossum have both mainland American and insular Caribbean species), and are thought to each represent independent dispersals from the American mainland within the past 10 million years. Two of these, Alinea and Capitellum, are feared to be extinct as none of their species have been seen in the past few decades; in addition, numerous other Caribbean species in the genera Mabuya, Spondylurus, and Copeoglossum are feared to have gone extinct. Most of these extinctions are due to the small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata), which was introduced to the islands in the 19th century.[3]

Genera

The subfamily Mabuyinae contains 25 genera.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 Uetz, P.; Freed, P.; Hošek, J. (eds.). "Mabuyinae". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  2. ↑ Austin JJ, Arnold EN [in French] (2006). "Using ancient and recent DNA to explore relationships of extinct and endangered Leiolopisma skinks (Reptilia: Scincidae) in the Mascarene islands". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 39 (2): 503–511. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.12.011. PMID 16473026.
  3. 1 2 Carranza S, Arnold EN [in French] (2003-08-05). "Investigating the origin of transoceanic distributions: mtDNA shows Mabuya lizards (Reptilia, Scincidae) crossed the Atlantic twice". Systematics and Biodiversity. 1 (2): 275–282. Bibcode:2003SyBio...1..275C. doi:10.1017/S1477200003001099. S2CID 55799145.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.