Prasinohaema is a genus of skinks characterized by having green blood. This condition is caused by an excess buildup of the bile pigment biliverdin. 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. The benefit provided by the high pigment concentration is unknown, but one possibility is that it protects against malaria.
Geographic range
Species in the genus Prasinohaema are endemic to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.5
Species
Species in the genus include:6
- 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.7
Further reading
- Greer AE (1974). "The genetic relationships of the Scincid lizard genus Leiolopisma and its relatives". Australian J. Zool. Supplementary Series 22 (31): 1-67. (Prasinohaema, new genus, p. 12).
External links
- Prasinohaema in the Reptile Database.
- Green Blood episode in O'Shea's Big Adventure.
References
Austin, Christopher C.; Jessing, Kevin W. (1994). "Green-blood pigmentation in lizards". Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology. 109 (3): 619–626. doi:10.1016/0300-9629(94)90201-1. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
Austin, Christopher C.; Jessing, Kevin W. (1994). "Green-blood pigmentation in lizards". Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Physiology. 109 (3): 619–626. doi:10.1016/0300-9629(94)90201-1. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩
Grens, Kerry (2018-05-16). "Lizards' Green Blood Evolved Four Times". The Scientist. Retrieved 2018-05-18. https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/54596/title/Lizards--Green-Blood-Evolved-Four-Times/ ↩
Malhotra, Anita (23 May 2018). "Some lizards have green blood that should kill them – and scientists can't work out why". The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/lizards-green-blood-scientists-unsure-biliverdin-jaundice-biology-a8357396.html ↩
Genus Prasinohaema at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/advanced_search?genus=Prasinohaema&exact=genus&submit=Search ↩
Genus Prasinohaema at The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. http://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/advanced_search?genus=Prasinohaema&exact=genus&submit=Search ↩
Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Prasinohaema parkeri, p. 200; P. semoni, p. 240). /wiki/ISBN_(identifier) ↩