Scincella stuarti ( Smith 1941 ) Brito & Vázquez, 2025

Scincella stuarti ( Smith 1941) stat. nov.

( Fig. 4 View FIGURE 4 )

Leiolopisma cherriei ( Smith 1939)

Lygosoma cherriei stuarti ( Smith 1941) View in CoL

Leiolopisma cherriei stuarti ( Smith 1946)

Scincella cherriei stuarti ( Smith & Taylor 1950) View in CoL

Sphenomorphus assatus assatus ( Rendón et al. 1998)

Scincella cherriei ( Aguilar-López & Canseco-Márquez 2006) View in CoL

Scincella cherriei ( Valdenegro-Brito et al. 2016) View in CoL

Scincella cherriei ( Torres-Hernández et al. 2021) View in CoL

Scincella cherriei ( Simón-Salvador et al. 2021) View in CoL

Holotype — U.S.N.M. No. 115174 (H. M. Smith field No. 2053), from Potrero Viejo , Veracruz . Paratypes. Fourteen, of which thirteen are topotypes collected in the same locality of the holotype ( U.S.N.M. Nos. 115175-86 , EHT-HMS [HMS No. 1780], Univ. Mich. Mus. Zool. No. 85429); and another one from Cuautlapan, Veracruz ( U.S.N.M. No. 115187 ) .

Diagnosis — S. stuarti differs from all American members of the genus Scincella by having the following combination of traits: a single frontoparietal scale; undifferentiated nuchal scales; lower eyelid window undivided; 30–36 midbody scale rows; 66–72 dorsal scales (from nuchals scales to vent); moderately long and thick limbs, separated by six scales in adult females and overlapping by ten scales in adult males when adpressed against the body; dorsal body ground color dark brown, with irregular dark mottling throughout; small pale spots on lateral surface of body that are more intense and evident in males; eight scale rows between the primary lateral dark lines at the level of the neck; well-defined primary lateral dark stripe on the head and neck, that turns into black dots posteriorly; creamy-yellow belly; and a blue-gray tail (blue color more intense ventrally) with a cross-banded pattern.

Redescription— Medium sized species,reaching a maximum snout-vent-length(SVL) of62.5 mm, characterized by elongated, cylindrical body; small, smooth, shiny, cycloid body scales; supranasal scales absent; single frontoparietal scale; interparietal surrounded by parietals; frontal in contact with frontoparietal; undifferentiated nuchal scales; 7 supralabials, 6–7 infralabials, usually 7; 4 supraoculars; lower eyelid window undivided; 31–36 scale rows around midneck; 30–36 x = 31 midbody scale rows, 66–72 x̄ = 69 dorsal scales (from nuchals scales to vent level); 8 scale rows between the primary lateral dark stripe at the level of the neck. Thick and moderately long pentadactyl limbs, which when adpressed against body overlap in males by up to 10 scales or are separated by up to six scales in females, length/SVL ratio 0.27–0.38 x = 0.32; subdigital lamellae on Toe IV 16–20; femoral pores absent. Brown to dark brown body color with a pattern of irregular black spots on the dorsal and lateral region of the body, a lateral dark stripe only well defined on the head and neck, which degrades at midbody into small black spots; additionally in males (unlike females), a series of small pale spots present along the lateral region of the body; creamy-yellow belly; blue-gray tail with crossbanded pattern.

Natural history and distribution— Scincella stuarti occurs along the central mountains of Puebla and Veracruz, and the lowlands of the coastal Gulf of Mexico, is known from Orizaba and Cuautlapan municipalities, and the mountains of the Sierra de Zongolica; in southern Veracruz in the Los Tuxtlas region and Las Choapas and Playa Vicente municipalities; southeastern Puebla in Eloxochitlán municipality to northern Oaxaca in Santiago Jalahui, Santiago Choapam, and Santa Cruz Tepetotutla ( Fig. 5 View FIGURE 5 ). It inhabits tropical evergreen forest and mountain cloud forest at low to moderate elevations (23–1461 m) ( Fig. 6 View FIGURE 6 ). Scincella stuarti is of mainly terrestrial habits and is associated with leaf litter, although it can also be found in arboreal microhabitats ( Aguilar-López et al. 2014). It is diurnal but mainly active at twilight; at night it takes refuge in hollows of roots or under rocks.