RIOPA 231 



Legs usually short or rudimentary ; lower eyelid scaly or with 

 an undivided transparent disk; ear opening present; supranasals 

 present; prefrontals well developed; frontal not broader than 

 supraocular region. 



This genus contains about twenty-four species, distributed 

 from India to New Guinea and Africa. Only a single species 

 has been found in the Philippines ; this is the widely distributed 

 Riopa bowringii (Giinther). The only Philippine localities are 

 five islands in the southern part of Sulu Archipelago. The spe- 

 cies is a diminutive skink, usually found under logs or leaves. 

 It is probably fairly common in Sulu. All specimens seen by 

 myself were captured. 



RIOPA BOWRINGII (GUnther) 



EuTneces bowringii Gunther, Rept. Brit. India (1864) 91. 

 Euprepes (Riopa) punctatostriatus Peters, Mon. Berl. Ak. (1871) 31. 

 Lygosoma bowringii Boulenger, Cat. Liz. Brit. Mus. 3 (1887) 308, 



pi. 23, %. 3; DE RooiJ, Rept. Indo-Aust. Arch. 1 (1915) 264. 

 Lygosoma whiteheadi Mocquard, Le Nat. 12 (1890) 144; Nouv. Arch. 



Mus. Ill 2 (1890) 134, pi. 8, fig. 3. 

 Riopa bowringi Taylor, Philip. Journ. Sci. § D 13 (1918) 251. 



Description of species. — (From No. 1990, E. H. Taylor col- 

 lection; collected at Siet Lake, Jolo, September 22, 1917, by E. 

 H. Taylor.) Snout rather obtuse, rostral slightly visible above; 

 supranasals present, in contact behind rostral; frontonasal 

 much broader than long, broadly in contact 

 with frontal; prefrontals present, very small, 

 very widely separated, leaving frontal in con- 

 tact broadly with frontonasal; frontal longer 

 than broad, as long as interparietal and fron- 

 toparietal; parietals in contact behind latter; 

 a pair of nuchals and a large temporal border 

 parietals; nostril pierced in a rectangular 

 nasal, followed by two frenals, anterior higher 

 than nasal and posterior frenal; two preocu- 

 lars between first superciliary and fourth ^ic 4i. Riopa bowringii 



. . f, (Gunther), from Jolo; 



labial ; seven superciliaries ; four supraoculars, a, head, dorsal view ; &, 

 first broadly in contact with prefrontal ; lower ^^^^' i^-terai view ; x 3. 

 eyelid scaly ; seven upper labials, fifth large, below eye, fourth as 

 small as first ; three or four enlarged temporals ; six lower labials ; 

 mental rather wide, followed by a wide postmental ; three pairs 

 of divided chin shields, first only in contact, third small; ear 

 opening small, with two projecting lobules; twenty-six rows of 



