Trachylepis capensis

Cape Skink

The Cape Skink ( Trachylepis capensis, synonym: Mabuya capensis ) is a Skinkart, which is widely used in South Africa.

Features

The Cape Skink is relatively large, its head -body length is on average 8 to 13.5 centimeters. With good nutrition he acts from the body cross section roundish ago, the head is barely separated from the fuselage, one sees no neck. The legs, however, are short and thin.

Its basic color is light brown to olive gray-brown with three pale longitudinal stripes. One of the strips extending in the middle of the back, and is usually somewhat wider than the two lateral strips. Dark brown run between these strips to black band or spot-like compounds laterally beyond the edges. The abdomen is uniformly yellowish white or gray. Some specimens are oberseits uniformly gray-brown, the longitudinal striation is barely visible.

Occurrence

With the exception of the far north of the Cape Skink in South Africa is frequent. Its range extends up to Namibia and Botswana. A relic population is native to the Nyanga National Park in Zimbabwe, a more in - Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia.

Way of life

The benthic Cape Skink in South Africa comes up in the gardens of the houses. He likes to hide between rocks or roots below, where he also undermines small tunnels, in addition, it can also be found on dump sites and waste. Although his life is rather hidden, the Cape Skink is towards humans not very shy and can sometimes even feed out of your hand. In urban areas include the domestic cat against its main enemies. He is himself an active hunter and feeds on large insects.

The propagation of the Cape skinks done ovoviviparous, that is, there are not stored eggs, but they are hatched in the womb. The young hatch still in the mother's body, in late summer it brings 5 to 18 young.

Taxonomy

The Cape Skink in 1831 described by Gray as Tiliqua capensis and was provided by FitzSimons in the genus Mabuya 1943. Phylogenetic studies led in 2002 to a fragmentation of the worldwide spread genus Mabuya in the genera Euprepis, Eutropis, Chioninia and Mabuya (in the narrow sense). The Cape Skink was placed in the genus Euprepis together with other species. Aaron M. Bauer introduced in 2003, which Euprepis that was not a valid designation under the nomenclatural rules of the ICZN and suggested for the African and Malagasy species from the genus name Trachylepis. The species name capensis reminiscent of the locality of the type specimen at the Cape of Good Hope.