NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Alai ground skink
Ablepharus alaicus Elpatjevsky, 1901
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Ablepharus alaicus (Chinese: 阿赖山泛蜥) is a species of skink found in China, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan,
Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. It has a small, slender body, and was recently described by a team of researchers from Xinjiang Agricultural University.
Wikipedia contributors, Ablepharus alaicus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:09:38.628757+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Ablepharus alaicus Elpatjevsky, 1901
- Name authority
- Elpatjevsky, 1901
- Common name
- Alai ground skink
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Scincidae
- Genus
- Ablepharus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderAutarchoglossa
- familyScincidae
- subfamilyEugongylinae
- genusAblepharus
- speciesAblepharus alaicus Elpatjevsky, 1901
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Ablepharus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Ablepharus anatolicus Schmidtler, 1997 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Twin-striped SkinkAblepharus bivittatus (Menetries, 1832) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Budak’s Snake-eyed SkinkAblepharus budaki Göcmen, Kumlutas & Tosunoglu, 1996 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Minor Snake-eyed SkinkAblepharus grayanus (Stoliczka, 1872) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Lindberg’s Snake-Eyed SkinkAblepharus lindbergi Wettstein, 1960 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Eremchenko’s skinkAblepharus eremchenkoi (Panfilov, 1999) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Himalaya Ground SkinkAblepharus himalayanus (Günther, 1864) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mahabharat ground skinkAblepharus mahabharatus (Eremchenko, Shah & Panfilov, 1998) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bronzy-brown SkinkAblepharus sikimmensis (Blyth, 1854) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tuolin ground skinkAblepharus tuolinensis Guo, Wang, Tan, WU & Che, 2025 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Ablepharus bivittatus alaicus | synonym |
| Ablepharus saposhnikovi Kastchenko, 1909 Kastchenko, 1909 | synonym |
| Asymblepharus alaicus kucenkoi Nikolsky, 1902 Nikolsky, 1902 | synonym |
| Ablepharus kucenkoi Nikolsky, 1902 Nikolsky, 1902 | synonym |
| Asymblepharus alaicus yakovlevae Eremchenko, 1983 Eremchenko, 1983 | ambiguous synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Ablepharus&species=alaicus Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:8L4G. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.