Prasinohaema

Prasinohaema
Geographic distribution of Prasinohaema flavipes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Subfamily: Sphenomorphinae
Genus: Prasinohaema
Greer, 1974

Prasinohaema (Greek: "green blood") is a genus of lizards in the subfamily Sphenomorphinae of the family Scincidae (skinks). Species in the genus Prasinohaema are characterized by having green blood. This condition is caused by an excess buildup of the bile pigment biliverdin. Prasinohaema species have plasma biliverdin concentrations approximately 1.5–30 times greater than fish species with green blood plasma, and 40 times greater than humans with green jaundice. The benefit provided by the high pigment concentration is unknown, but one possibility is that it protects against malaria.

Geographic range

Species in the genus Prasinohaema are endemic to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Species

Species in the genus include:

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Prasinohaema.

Etymology

The specific names, parkeri and semoni, are in honor of English herpetologist Hampton Wildman Parker and German zoologist Richard Wolfgang Semon, respectively.

References

  1. 1 2 Austin, Christopher C.; Jessing, Kevin W. (1994). "Green-blood pigmentation in lizards". Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology. 109 (3): 619–626. doi:10.1016/0300-9629(94)90201-1.
  2. ↑ Grens, Kerry (2018-05-16). "Lizards' Green Blood Evolved Four Times". The Scientist. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  3. ↑ Malhotra, Anita (23 May 2018). "Some lizards have green blood that should kill them – and scientists can't work out why". The Independent.
  4. 1 2 Genus Prasinohaema at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  5. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Prasinohaema parkeri, p. 200; P. semoni, p. 240).

Further reading