Abstract
A new species of skink, Eumeces cholistanensis sp. nov. is described from a very remote area of Cholistan Desert, Bahawalpur district, Punjab Province of Pakistan. The major diagnostic characters of the new species include the presence of 7 dark brown stripes separated by alternating light narrower stripes, extending on to the tail, two azygous postmentals, 54–57 rows of paired, widened middorsal scales, 64–67 scales from postmental to anal scale, absence of postnasal and intercalary scales between subdigital lamellae. This skink, being striped, is sharply different from all of its congeners in several morphological characteristics, a reason that warrants its recognition as a separate species.References
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