''Lankascincus merrill'', also known commonly as Merrill's lanka skink, is a species of

lizard Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...

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 ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Etymology

The specific name, ''merrill'', is in honor of Sri Lankan tea executive

Merrill J. Fernando Merrill Joseph Fernando (born 6 May, 1930) is the founder and former CEO of the global tea company Dilmah. In 2019, Fernando stood down as CEO of Dilmah, as his son, Dilhan, was appointed the new head of the company. Early life Fernando was bor ...

for his support of biodiversity conservation. www.reptile-database.org.

References

Lankascincus Reptiles described in 2020 Reptiles of Sri Lanka Taxa named by Mendis Wickramasinghe {{skink-stub