''Cryptoblepharus boutonii'', also known
commonly as Bouton's snake-eyed skink, Bouton's skink, and the snake-eyed 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 ...
of
lizard in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
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 else ...
to
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
, including nearby islets.
[
]
Etymology
The specific name, ''boutonii'', is in honor of French botanist Louis Sulpice Bouton.[ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Cryptoblepharus boutonii'', p. 35).]
Habitat
The referred 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. boutonii'' is the marine intertidal zone, at altitudes from sea level to .
Description
''C. boultonii'' may attain a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of almost , and a tail length slightly greater than SVL.
Diet
''C. boutonii'' preys
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
upon small species of insects, crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
s, and fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
es.
Reproduction
''C. boutonii'' is oviparous.[ Clutch size is two eggs.]
References
Further reading
* Desjardins J (1831). "''Sur trois espèces de Lézard du genre Scinque, qui habitent l'île Maurice (Ile-de-France)''". ''Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Paris'' 22: 292–299. (''Scincus boutonii'', new species, pp. 298–299). (in French and Latin).
Cryptoblepharus
Reptiles described in 1831
Taxa named by Julien Desjardins
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