Chalcides pentadactylus, or five-fingered skink, is a species of

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 ...

found in the Western Ghats of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Females of other species of the genus are

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 ...

, meaning that they give birth to live young. Almost nothing is known of ''C. pentadactylus''. It is only known from the holotype which is lost fide Smith 1935 Due to the loss of the only known specimen the true identity and origin of this skink, and its correct generic assignment, must await the examination of fresh material (Srinivasulu & Srinivasulu 2013). Type locality: "Kuddle Poondy, a tidal river near Beypore" (= Kadal Undi, Beypur, 11° 11' N; 75° 49' E, in Kerala State, south-western India), Malabar district.

References

* Beddome, R.H. 1870 Descriptions of some new lizards from the Madras Presidency. Madras Monthly J. Med. Sci. 1: 30–35
Original description of Sphenocephalus pentadactylus
* Smith, M.A. 1935. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Taylor and Francis, London. * Srinivasulu, C. & Srinivasulu, B. 2013. Chalcides pentadactylus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T172689A1367498. Chalcides Reptiles described in 1870 Taxa named by Richard Henry Beddome {{skink-stub