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

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Scincidae. The species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

Islands. There are two recognized

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

Conservation status

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

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

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 and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

, 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, habitat refers to the array of resources, 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 manifestation of its ...

of ''C. vaillantii'' is

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

Reproduction

''C. vaillantii'' is

viviparous In animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the mother, with the maternal circulation providing for the metabolic needs of the embryo's development, until the mother gives birth to a fully or partially developed juve ...

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized as being valid including the

nominotypical subspecies In biological classification, subspecies (: 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. ...

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

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

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

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

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 f ...

. 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 and fictional characters with the surname * Schmidt (singer) (born 1990), German pop and jazz singer * Schmidt (lunar crater), a small lunar impact crater * Schmidt (Martian c ...

, 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