A New Genus and Species of Scincid Lizards from Vietnam: The First Asiatic Skink with Double Rows of Basal Subdigital Pads

A small lygosomine skink, from tropical rain forests of southern Vietnam, differs primarily from other Asiatic scincids in having a double rows of subdigital pads. There are presumably associated with its arboreal mode of life. Other scale characters allow placement of the new monotypic genus close to the lygosomine genera Lipinia Gray and Scincella Mittleman (group 1 of Greer, 1974). A taxonomically very complicated group of lygosomine scincid lizards of the genus Leiolo- pisma and its relatives was revised by Greer (1974) in detail. Based on osteological and mor- phological characters, these lizards were placed into three major generic groups. Representatives of the genera Scincella and Lipinia (Greer's group I) and of Emoia (Greer's group II) inhabit the mainland of the south-east Asia, including Vi- etnam.