''Chioninia vaillantii'', also known commonly as Vaillant's mabuya or Vaillant's skink, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Scincidae. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

Islands. There are two recognized

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

Conservation status

''C. vaillantii'' is listed as endangered by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

because the species occurs as a very fragmented population, and the quality of its habitat is declining.

Geographic range

Vaillant's mabuya occurs on the islands Fogo and

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, and the islet

Ilhéu de Cima Ilhéu de Cima is an uninhabited island of Cape Verde. It is part of the Ilhéus do Rombo islet group, located east of Ilhéu Grande, the other main islet of the group, and northeast of the island Brava. They are administratively a part of the ...

Habitat

The preferred natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of ''C. vaillantii'' is

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

Reproduction

''C. vaillantii'' is

viviparous Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the m ...

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized as being valid including the

nominotypical subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

. *''Chioninia vaillantii vaillantii'' *''Chioninia vaillantii xanthotis'' ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atten ...

'': A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

other than ''

Chioninia __NOTOC__ ''Chioninia'' is a genus of skinks, lizards in the subfamily Lygosominae. For long, this genus was included in the "wastebin taxon" ''Mabuya''. The genus ''Chioninia'' contains the Cape Verde mabuyas. Description Species in the genus ' ...

''.

Etymology

The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''vaillantii'', is in honor of French herpetologist

Léon Louis Vaillant Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Mabuya vaillantii'', p. 271).

References

* Boulenger GA (1887). ''Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III ... Scincidæ ...'' London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 575 pp. + Plates I–XL. (''Mabuia vaillantii'', new species, pp. 159–160 + Plate VII). * Mausfeld P, Schmitz A, Böhme W, Misof B, Vrcibradic D, Rocha CFD (2002). "Phylogenetic Affinities of ''Mabuya atlantica''

Schmidt Schmidt may refer to: * Schmidt (surname), including list of people with the surname * Schmidt (singer) (born 1990), German pop and jazz singer * Schmidt (lunar crater), a small lunar impact crater * Schmidt (Martian crater), a List of craters on ...

, 1945, Endemic to the Atlantic Ocean Archipelago of Fernando de Noronha (Brazil): Necessity of Partitioning the Genus ''Mabuya'' Fitzinger, 1826 (Scincidae: Lygosominae)". ''Zoologischer Anzeiger'' 241 (3): 281–293. (''Chioninia vaillantii'', new combination). * Miralles A, Vasconcelos R, Perera A, Harris DJ, Carranza S (2010). "An integrated taxonomic revision of the Cape Verdean skinks (Squamata, Scincidae)". ''Zoologica Scripta'' 40 (1): 16–44. (''Chioninia vaillantii xanthotis'', new subspecies). vaillantii Endemic vertebrates of Cape Verde Reptiles described in 1887 Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger Fauna of Fogo, Cape Verde Fauna of Santiago, Cape Verde {{Lygosominae-stub