Prasinohaema

Prasinohaema (Greek: "green blood") is a genus of skinks characterized by having green blood. This condition is caused by an excess buildup of the bile pigment biliverdin. ^[1] 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.^[1] The benefit provided by the high pigment concentration is unknown, but one possibility is that it protects against malaria.^[2][3]

Prasinohaema
Geographic distribution of Prasinohaema flavipes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Scinciformata
Infraorder:	Scincomorpha
Family:	Sphenomorphidae
Genus:	Prasinohaema Greer, 1974

Geographic range

Species in the genus Prasinohaema are endemic to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.^[4]

Species

Species in the genus include:^[4]

• Prasinohaema flavipes (Parker, 1936) – common green tree skink
• Prasinohaema parkeri (M.A. Smith, 1937) – Parker's green tree skink
• Prasinohaema prehensicauda (Loveridge, 1945) – prehensile green tree skink
• Prasinohaema semoni (Oudemans, 1894) – Semon's green tree skink
• Prasinohaema virens (W. Peters, 1881) - green-blooded skink, green tree skink

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.^[5]