Afro-Malagasy Mabuyas
Trachylepis
Trachylepis is a skink genus in the subfamily Mabuyinae found mainly in Africa. Its members were formerly included in the "wastebin taxon" Mabuya, and for some time in Euprepis. As defined today, Trachylepis contains the clade of Afro-Malagasy mabuyas. The genus also contains a species from the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, T. atlantica, and may occur in mainland South America with Trachylepis tschudii and Trachylepis maculata, both poorly known and enigmatic. The ancestors of T. atlantica are believed to have rafted across the Atlantic from Africa during the last 9 million years.
The generic name Trachylepis literally means "rough-scaled", referring to the fact that most of the species, though superficially smooth-scaled, have three or more slight longitudinal keels on their dorsal scales.
60 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 97 known species
African Striped Skink
speciesTrachylepis striata
Rainbow Skink
speciesTrachylepis margaritifer
variable skink complex
complexTrachylepis varia
Speckled Rock Skink
speciesTrachylepis punctatissima
Cape Skink
speciesTrachylepis capensis
Wahlberg’s Striped Skink
speciesTrachylepis wahlbergii
Western Rock Skink
speciesTrachylepis sulcata
Red-sided Skink
speciesTrachylepis homalocephala
African Five-lined Skink
speciesTrachylepis quinquetaeniata
Variegated Skink
speciesTrachylepis variegata
Speckle-lipped Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis maculilabris
Kalahari Tree Skink
speciesTrachylepis spilogaster
Seychelles Skink
speciesTrachylepis sechellensis
Senegal Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis affinis
Gravenhorst's Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis gravenhorstii
Eastern Sand Skink
speciesTrachylepis depressa
Karasburg Tree Skink
speciesTrachylepis sparsa
Elegant Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis elegans
Comoro Island Skink
speciesTrachylepis comorensis
Fire-sided Skink
speciesTrachylepis perrotetii
Sharp-lipped Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis acutilabris
Western three-striped skink
speciesTrachylepis occidentalis
Noronha Skink
speciesTrachylepis atlantica
Ovambo Tree Skink
speciesTrachylepis binotata
Sudan Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis brevicollis
Tree skink
speciesTrachylepis planifrons
São Tomé Skink
speciesTrachylepis thomensis
Gold-spotted Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis aureopunctata
Hoesch's Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis hoeschi
Wright's Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis wrightii
Tessellated Skink
speciesTrachylepis tessellata
Mulanje Skink
speciesTrachylepis mlanjensis
Socotra mabuya
speciesTrachylepis socotrana
Guinea Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis albilabris
Tropical Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis polytropis
Tandrefana Skink
speciesTrachylepis tandrefana
Boulenger's Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis boulengeri
Speckled sand skink
speciesTrachylepis punctulata
Trachylepis aureogularis
speciesTrachylepis aureogularis
Trachylepis ansorgii
speciesTrachylepis ansorgii
Pemba Speckle-lipped Skink
speciesTrachylepis albotaeniata
Grass-top skink
speciesTrachylepis megalura
Bronze Rock Skink
speciesTrachylepis lacertiformis
Trachylepis paucisquamis
speciesTrachylepis paucisquamis
Alpine Meadow Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis irregularis
Makolowodé’s Trachylepis
speciesTrachylepis makolowodei
Dumas' Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis dumasi
Boulder Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis vato
Bocage's Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis bocagii
Adamastor Skink
speciesTrachylepis adamastor
Braun's Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis brauni
Trachylepis suzanae
speciesTrachylepis suzanae
Isalo Skink
speciesTrachylepis nancycoutuae
Benson's Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis bensonii
Gonwouo's Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis gonwouoi
Angolan Blue-tailed Skink
speciesTrachylepis laevis
Two-coloured skink
speciesTrachylepis dichroma
Toliara Skink
speciesTrachylepis vezo
Trachylepis wilsoni
speciesTrachylepis wilsoni
Bayon's Mabuya
speciesTrachylepis bayonii
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Trachylepis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 37413.