Dasia olivacea

Dasia olivacea, the olive dasia or olive tree skink, is a semi-arboreal species of skink lizard native to Southeast Asia.

Dasia olivacea
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Scinciformata
Infraorder:	Scincomorpha
Family:	Mabuyidae
Genus:	Dasia
Species:	D. olivacea
Binomial name
Dasia olivacea Gray, 1839
Synonyms
Euprepes ernesti Duméril & Bibron, 1839 Eurepes olivaceus (Gray, 1839) Lygosoma olivaceum (Gray, 1839) Mabuia saravacensis Bartlett, 1895 Tiliqua olivacea (Gray, 1839)

Distribution

Dasia olivacea is found south of approximately 15° north in Southeast Asia, including parts of Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, throughout the island of Borneo (Sarawak, Kalimantan, Brunei), the Indonesian islands of Bali, Java and Sumatra (among others), as well as India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The species is originally known from a single locality in Cambodia. The northernmost extreme for D. olivacea is possibly the Sakaerat Environmental Research Station in the Nakhon Ratchasima Province of eastern Thailand.^[2]

Ecology and conservation

Dasia olivacea lives almost exclusively in trees, only rarely descending to nest or to move between trees.^[1] Eggs may be laid more than once per year, in clutches of up to 14 eggs; incubation lasts 69 days.^[1] Because it is very widespread and ecologically flexible, D. olivacea is considered to be a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.^[1]

Taxonomy

Dasia olivacea was first described by John Edward Gray, in a publication of the Annals of Natural History (1839),^[1][3] as the type species of the (then) newly-discovered genus Dasia. The type locality was "Prince of Wales Island" (now Penang Island).^[1][3]

Description

Mature individuals of Dasia olivacea have a green back, with bronze scales towards the flanks and 12 bands of ocelli (eye-like spots) reaching from side to side.^[2][3] The head is primarily a dark olive-green colour with black markings; the underside of the head is a bluish to yellowish green.^[2]

Further reading

• Greer, Allen E. (1970). "The relationships of the skinks referred to the genus Dasia". Breviora. 348: 1–30.
• Grossmann, W. (2002). "Haltung und Zucht des Braunen Baumskinks Dasia grisea (Gray, 1845) und weitere Angaben zur Nachzucht des Olivfarbenen Baumskinks Dasia olivacea Gray, 1839". Sauria. 24 (4): 35–46.
• Inger, Robert F. & Walter C. Brown (1980). "Species of the scincid genus Dasia Gray". Fieldiana Zoology. 3: 1–11. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.3190.