Feylinia

Feylinia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Subphylum:	Vertebrata
Class:	Reptilia (paraphyletic)
(unranked):	Sauria
Order:	Squamata
Infraorder:	Scincomorpha
Family:	Scincidae
Subfamily:	see text
Genus:	Feylinia Gray, 1845
Species
5, see text.

Feylinia is a genus of skinks (family Scincidae). It is usually placed in the monotypic subfamily Feylininae.

However, it appears to be not as distinct as formerly presumed, but rather somewhat closer to such genera as Chalcides and Sepsina. These are usually placed in the subfamily Scincinae, which seems to be paraphyletic however.

Feylinia belongs to a major clade which does not seem to include the Scincinae type genus Scincus. Thus, it will probably be eventually assigned to a new, yet-to-be-named subfamily. (Austin & Arnold 2006)

Species

The following five species are recognized.

• Feylinia currori Gray, 1845
• Feylinia elegans (Hallowell, 1854)
• Feylinia grandisquamis L. Müller, 1910
• Feylinia macrolepis Boettger, 1877
• Feylinia polylepis Bocage, 1877

References

• Austin, J.J., & Arnold, E.N. (2006). Using ancient and recent DNA to explore relationships of extinct and endangered Leiolopisma skinks (Reptilia: Scincidae) in the Mascarene islands. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39 (2): 503–511. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.12.011 (HTML abstract)