About Riopa albopunctata (Gray, 1846)
Riopa albopunctata, commonly called the white-spotted supple skink, is a small lizard found across South Asia. It is distributed across mainland India, excluding likely the Thar Desert and Himalayas, with its range extending to Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indochina, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Maldives islands. This species has a long, slender body with small, weak legs, and a short, rounded head. The distance between its nose and front legs is roughly 2 to 2.5 times the distance between its front and back legs. Unlike some lizard species, its lower eyelids are covered in scales rather than being transparent. The specific shapes and names of the scales on its head are used by scientists to identify this species. It has a short snout, four supraoculars (scales located above the eyes), and seven or eight supraciliaries (scales located above the eyelid), where the first and last supraciliaries are the largest. Its ear opening is small, oval-shaped, and has tiny lobes at the front. There are 26 or 28 smooth scales around the midsection of its body, and its preanal scales (scales near the vent) are not noticeably distinct from other body scales. Its legs are short: when stretched forward, the front leg reaches the ear or just past it. The short hind leg spans a length equal to 2.3 to 3 times the distance between the front and back legs. The fourth toe is longer than the third toe, and there are 12 to 15 tiny lamellae (plates) under the fourth toe, marked with faint ridges. Its tail is thick, and slightly longer than the combined length of its head and body. The upper surface of the body is light brown or reddish-brown, and the sides are dotted with small black spots. Every scale on the back has a small dark dot that forms lines running along the back. White spots appear on the sides of the neck and front of the body, and the belly is pale yellow or white.
