2004

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchVol. 10, pp. 241-244

A New Locality for the Rare Bornean Skink, Lamprolepis vyneri(Shelford, 1905) (Sauria: Scincidae)
INDRANEIL DAS
Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak,
94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia; E-mail: idas@ibec.unimas.myAbstract. - A specimen of the Bornean arboreal skink, Lamprolepis vyneri (Shelford, 1905), hitherto known from theholotype from Gunung Balingan, Sibu Division, Sarawak, and a second possible specimen from the upper reaches ofSungei Mahakam, Kalimantan, is reported from Bukit Balian, near the Kayan settlement of Kelep, at Sungei Asap, atthe base of Gunung Dulit, Kapit Division, Sarawak. The species is illustrated for the first time.
Key words. - Lamprolepis vyneri, redescription, Scincidae, Sarawak, Borneo.

Introduction
The genus Lamprolepis Fitzinger, 1843, which wasrevived from the synonymy of Dasia Gray (1829), byGreer (1970) contains four nominal species of arboreal
skinks. Two of these are endemic to Borneo (L. nieuwenhuisii and L. vyneri), a third (L. leucosticta) to Java(Manthey and Grossmann, 1997:263) and the fourth (L.
smaragdina) is widespread in the Philippines, Sulawesi,
Lesser Sundas, the Republic of Belau, the Carolines,
New Guinea, the Solomons and Santa Cruz Islands(Brown and Alcala, 1980:76-79; Greer, 1970). The firsttwo species are arguably the least well known of all
Bornean lizards. L. nieuwenhuisii (Lidth de Jeude, 1905)
was described from "Long Bloe" (= Long Blu or Bloéoe,
00° 43' N; 114° 25' E), on the upper reaches of Sungei
Mahakam, Kalimantan Tengah Province, Indonesia;
RMNH 4455, holotype). It has subsequently been collected from isolated localities in northern Borneo,
including Nanga Tekalit Camp on Sungei Mengiong,Kapit Division (reported as Dasia vyneri by Lloyd et al.,1968, based on FMNH 138542; 147562); and Pangkalan
Lobang at Niah National Park, Miri Division (FMNH131528), both in Sarawak State; and Kiau, Gunung
Kinabalu National Park, Ranau District (MCZ 43494;
BMNH 1929.12.22.96 and ZRC 2.1595); andMahunbayon, Gunung Kinabalu National Park, Ranau
District (MCZ 43495), both in Sabah State, EastMalaysia.
Lamprolepis vyneri (Shelford, 1905) is more poorlyknown. Named for Charles Vyner Brooke (1874-1963),
the Rajah Muda of Sarawak at the time of description of
the species, and subsequently, the Third Rajah ofSarawak between 1917-1946, it is only known from theholotype,BMNH
1946.8.15.56(ex-BMNH
1909.8.18.2), from "Mount Balineau, Muka district,
Sarawak" (= Gunung Balingan, 01º 25' N; 111º 28' E,© 2004 by Asiatic Herpetological Research

Sibu Division, East Malaysia), according to the originaldescription. However, in the records of the Sarawak
Museum (Anon., 1903), the type locality is given as"Mt. Balingean" (in Muka District, Sibu Division,Sarawak). Lidth de Jeude (1905) questionably assigned
to this species a specimen from the upper reaches ofSungei Mahakam (00º 30' S; 117º 15' E), Kalimantan
Timur Province, which apparently differed from
Shelford's (1905) species in some trivial details of squamation and body proportions. The location of this specimen is unknown, but was examined by De Rooij(1915), who allocated it to the present species. Thisspecies has never been illustrated.
A second specimen (ZRC 2.5513; Figs. 1-2) ofLamprolepis vyneri is reported here from Bukit Belian(03º 08' 34.4" N; 113º 55' 45.5" E), near the Kayan settlement of Kelep, at Sungei Asap, situated at the base ofGunung Dulit, Kapit District, Sarawak. It was collecteddead on 6 November 2001 from a logging road.

Material and Methods
The specimen was photographed upon collection, fixedin neutral buffered formalin and subsequently transferred to 70% ethanol, within a week of collection. The
following measurements were taken with MitutoyoTM
dial caliper (to the nearest 0.1 mm): snout-vent length(SVL; from tip of snout to vent), tail length (TL; fromvent to end of unregenerated tail; tip missing), tail width(TW; measured at base of tail); head length (HL; distance between posterior edge of last supralabial andsnout-tip), head width (HW; measured at angle of jaws),
head depth (HD; maximum height of head, from occiputto throat), ear length (EL; greater ear length); eye diameter (ED; greatest diameter of orbit), eye to nostril distance (E-N; distance between anteriormost point of eyesand nostrils), eye to snout distance (E-S; distanceVol. 10, p. 242

Asiatic Herpetological Research

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Figure 1. The Sungei Asap specimen of Lamprolepis vyneri (ZRC 2.5513), showing (left) general view of body and(right) close-up of head and forebody.

between anteriormost point of eyes and tip of snout), eyeto ear distance (E-E; distance from anterior edge of ear
opening to posterior corner of eyes), internarial distance(IN; distance between nares), interorbital distance (IO;
shortest distance between orbits), tibia length (TBL;
straight length of tibia, from knee to sole), in addition tomeasurements of digits, taken on the left limbs, from thebase to tip. Scale counts and external observations ofmorphology were made using an Olympus SZX9 dissecting microscope. Institutional abbreviations follow
Leviton et al. (1985), except ZRC is retained for USDZ,
following conventional usage.
Description of Lamprolepis vyneri from Bukit Belian,
Sungei Asap (ZRC 2.5513). - Habitus relatively slender, snout-vent length 55.2 mm; head elongate (HL/SVLratio 0.20), narrow (HW/HL ratio 0.65), moderately
depressed (HD/HL ratio 0.11), slightly distinct fromneck; snout long (E-S/HW ratio 0.72), longer than theeye diameter (ED/E-S ratio 0.75), projecting slightly
beyond mandible; interparietal distinct; parietal eyeabsent; supraoculars four; second and third largest;supraciliaries 8/8; first supraciliary contacts frontal;
scales on snout and forehead smooth; rostral contact
frontonasal posteriorly; rostral small, wider than deep
(rostral width = 2.0 mm; rostral depth = 1.2 mm;
width/depth ratio 1.67), contacted posteriorly by nasal
and frontonasal; posteroventrally, rostral in contact with
first supralabial; nares slit-like, situated on upper levelof nasal, oriented laterally; nasal in broad contact with
first supralabial; supranasals moderate in size, separated; frontonasal trapezoid, wider than long, contacting
frontal and prefrontals posteriorly; frontal longer thanfrontonasal, not constricted laterally; frontoparietals incontact with each other and with three supraoculars, andposteriorly, with interparietal and parietals; a single pairof parietals contacts interparietal; parietals separated
behind by an azygous scale; loreals two, anteriormost
longer than deep; a small dorsal presubocular, and awider ventral one; eye large (ED/HL ratio 0.35); postsuboculars two; supralabials seven, with supralabials 46 in suborbital position; supralabials three, fifth andsixth larger than the others; infralabials six; lower eyelidscaly; a single preocular between loreal and orbit; postoculars two; pretemporals two; two anterior and two
posterior temporals; ear opening narrow, measuring 1.9mm; situated laterally at a level slightly higher thanjaws; a few lobules around ear opening present; tympanum deeply sunk; eye-to-ear distance less than eye-tonostril distance (E-E/E-N ratio 1.26); a pair of enlarged
nuchals, partially separated by a single cycloid scale;mental large, semicircular, wider than deep; postmental
single, trapezoidal, larger than mental, its width 1.8 mm
or 25.4 per cent head width; postmental contacts first
infralabial only, bounded posteriorly by a pair ofsmooth, squarish, juxtaposed chin shields that are incontact; three pairs of enlarged chin shields, the first incontact with each other, the second separated by a single
scale, the third separated by three scales; tongue narrowly elongate, narrowed distally, with a median cleft andscattered papillae on the dorsal surface; maxillary andmandibular teeth small, undifferentiated.
Body slender, elongate (SVL/BW ratio 6.81); dorsum and venter with smooth scales, with faint striae,
scale size subequal dorsally as well as ventrally; anals
six, smooth; outer overlapping inner; preanals three, notgreatly enlarged, overlapped by last ventral, third preanal exceeding its posterior level, over vent; flank scales
reduced in size.
Limbs well developed, pentadactyle; adpressed
limbs meeting at level of heels; lamellae under finger IV
numbering 18; lamellae under toe IV numbering 20; relative length of fingers (measurements in mm, in parentheses): 4 (4.5) > 3 (4.4) > 2 (3.5) > 5 (2.7) > 1 (2.0); relative length of toes: (measurements in mm, in parentheses): 4 (7.8) > 3 (5.6) > 5 (5.5) > 2 (4.7) > 1 (3.0).
Tail long, preserved tail length over 40.5 mm (tipmissing), longer than snout-vent length; tail base slightly swollen; ventral surface of tail with smooth; subcaudals very wide; scales on the postanal region and at theproximal part of the tail base smooth.
Coloration. - Forehead olive-yellow, edged with black;dark smudges on forehead scales; scales on dorsum of2004

Asiatic Herpetological ResearchFigure 2. Head of Lamprolepis vyneri (ZRC 2.5513) indorsal (left) and ventral (right) views. Scale bars = 10mm.

body bright yellow, edged with black, appearing as four
dark longitudinal lines that extend along the body toslightly beyond the base of tail; yellow dorsolateral
stripe, 2-3 scale wide, runs from behind level of the axilla, across the inguinal region, continuing along the sideof the tail; venter, including the gular, pectoral andabdominal regions, undersurface of tail and of limbs yellowish-green, unpatterned; scales on flanks black-edged,
reddish-orange, with scattered yellow scales; the samecoloration is found on the upper surfaces of the fore andhind limbs; tail alternately banded yellowish-brown,each band one scale wide, and pale yellow; tongue andinner lining of mouth yellowish-pink; inner lining ofbody cavity yellowish-pink in preservative.
Measurements (in mm). - BW 8.1; ED 3.8; E-E 4.8; EL1.2; E-N 3.8; E-S 5.1; IN 1.7; IO 4.5; HD 5.8; HL 10.9;
HW 7.1; SVL 55.2; TBL 7.7; and TL 40.5 - original
unregenerated, tip missing; TW 5.3.
Scutellation. - Ventrals (between postmental and preanal) 49; midbody scale rows 22; subcaudal countunknown (tail-tip missing); supralabials seven (fourth,fifth and sixth in suborbital position) and infralabials
six.
Variation. - The Sungei Asap specimen differs from theholotype in the following particulars: SVL 55.2 vs 52.0mm; supraoculars on left side four (vs five in the holo-Vol. 10, p. 243

Figure 3. Map of Borneo showing the known localities
for Lamprolepis vyneri. 1 = Gunung Balingan, Sibu
Division (type locality); 2 = Bukit Balian, near Sungei
Asap, Kapit Division.

type, as shown on the apparently anomalous right side of
the head of the Bukit Belian specimen). The bright red
and yellow coloration of the flanks of the Bukit Belian
specimen turned to dark brown after three months ofstorage in preservative. Shelford (1905), who presumably examined a preserved specimen, reported the flanks
as being olive-gray. van Lidth de Jeude's (1905) specimen was 63 mm in SVL, and showed five black stripes,
but only three entering the sacral region and tail-base.
This poorly-preserved specimen was described as "puttygrey", with several cephalic scales edged with black.
Notes on Natural History. - The specimen being
reported here was found freshly dead on a logging trackat the base of Bukit Belian (03º 08' 34.4" N; 113º 55'45.5" E), near Kelep, Sungei Asap, a Kayan resettlementcolony in Kapit (Seventh) Division, central Sarawak. It
may have fallen off a log that was being transported,because the members of the genus are highly arboreal,
and the present specimen was otherwise physicallyintact, except for the missing tail-tip, and not run over.
The area lies within a lowland dipterocarp forest withstrands of the Bornean ironwood tree, Eusideroxylon
zwageri (Iban name: Belian, which gives the hill itsname) at 186 m elevation. Perhaps coincidentally, theholotype was taken at a similar-sounding locality,Gunung Balingan, for which no general habitat description is available. One is therefore tempted to speculate

Vol. 10, p. 244

Asiatic Herpetological Researchthat both localities derive their names for their strands of
the Bornean ironwood, a dipterocarp much in demand
from the timber industry for its durability, and hence
threatened by logging. The new locality, at the base ofGunung Dulit, is ca. 190 km east of the type locality,
across the Lumut Range (Fig. 3).

Acknowledgments
I thank the Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental
Conservation, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, for supporting my research on the herpetofauna of Borneo, andEsther Bala for field assistance. For loans of the holotypes of Lamprolepis vyneri and L. nieuwenhuisii, I am
grateful to C. J. McCarthy, BMNH, and M. S.
Hoogmoed, RMNH, respectively. I would like to thankR. F. Inger, A. Resetar and H. K. Voris, FMNH; J. E.
Cadle, J. Rosado and the late E. E. Williams, MCZ, andK. K. P. Lim, P. K. L. Ng and C. M. Yang, ZRC, for permitting me to examine comparative material under theircare and Allen Greer and an anonymous reviewer forcomments on a draft manuscript. Finally, thanks are due
to Gary Geller, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, for generating
Fig. 3.

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