not longer than frontoparietals and interparietal together. Five 

 supraoculars, second of which is largest, First two supraoculars 

 in contact with frontal. Parietals in contact with each other 

 posterior to interparietal. Nuchals slightly distinct. Seven 

 supralabials. Twenty-eight rows of smooth scales equal in size 

 around midbody (27 and 26 respectively in the 2 paratypes). Two 

 somewhat enlarged preanals. Tail thickened in its anterior third, 

 somewhat longer than body with head. Limbs relatively short; do 

 not meet when appressed to the body. Hindlimbs somewhat shorter 

 than distance from tip of snout to base of forelimbs, distance 

 between limbs 1.5 times the distance between snout and base of 

 forelimbs. Fourth digit of hindlimb longer than third and covered 

 ventrally by 23 lamellae (22 and 23, respectively, in the paratypes). 

 Yellow-brown color above, Narrow dark-brown stripe along spine 

 passing to the end of the tail interrupted in some places and 

 broken into separate elongated spots. One row of small spots of 

 similar color lateral to dorsal stripe, in places doubled or fused 

 into small stripes. A wide dark-brown temporal stripe passing 

 from nostril through eye and on sides of back, edged by slightly 

 distinct light dotted lines. Sides of body below temporal stripes 

 densely covered by small speckles and spots, gradually disappearing 

 towards abdomen. Mat white color below with brown marks on 

 inf ramaxil lary scutes. Length of body with head 60 mm, unautotomized 

 tail 76 mm. In the paratypes 55 and 94 mm and 52 and 88 mm, 

 respectively. Named after the German herpetologist R, Mertens, who 

 dedicated many of his works to the herpetofauna of Indonesia, and 

 of the Lesser Sunda Archipelago in particular. 



Comparative remarks. One of the characteristic features of 

 the genus Sphenomorphus , which includes the species described above, 

 is the absence of an undivided transparent disc in the scaly lower 

 eyelid, a feature characteristic in particular of the representatives 

 of the closely related genus Leiolopisma . It is assumed that 

 lygosome skinks possessing such a disc originated phy logenetical ly 

 from forms with nontransparent scaly eyelids. According to Smith 

 (M.A. Smith, 1937), the tendency toward the formation of a trans- 

 parent disc is found in several typical Sphenomorphus , for example 

 in the New Zealand S. ornatum . In the south Asiatic Leiolopisma 

 reevesi , however, the ocular disc is sometimes replaced by several 

 transparent scales. A similar phenomenon is found in Sphenomorphus 

 mertensi mihi . As seen in Figure 2, the scales covering the lower 

 eyelid of the three known specimens of the new species are markedly 

 different in size and form, with a well-formed semi-transparent disc 

 found in one case. Thus, according to this character the described 

 form occupies an intermediate position between the closely related 

 genera Sphenomorphus and Leiolopisma , and is quite different in 

 this - relation from all other Indonesian representatives of the genus. 

 According to the other characters, S. mertensi is close to the group 



2. 



