Nessia

Nessia
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Scincidae
Subfamily:	Scincinae
Genus:	Nessia Gray, 1839

Nessia is a genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae. The genus is endemic to Sri Lanka.^[1] Species in the genus Nessia are commonly known as snake skinks.

The following nine species are recognized as being valid:^[1]

• Nessia bipes M.A. Smith, 1935 – two-legged nessia
• Nessia burtonii Gray, 1839 – Burton's nessia
• Nessia deraniyagalai Taylor, 1950 – Deraniyagala's nessia
• Nessia didactyla (Deraniyagala, 1934) – two-toed nessia
• Nessia gansi Batuwita & Edirisinghe, 2017
• Nessia hickanala Deraniyagala, 1940 – Hickanala nessia
• Nessia layardi (Kelaart, 1853) – Layard's nessia
• Nessia monodactyla (Gray, 1839) – one-toed nessia
• Nessia sarasinorum (F. Müller, 1889) – Müller's nessia

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Nessia.

• Gray JE (1839). "Catalogue of the Slender-tongued Saurians, with Descriptions of many new Genera and Species". Annals and Magazine of Natural History, First Series 2: 331–337. (Nessia, new genus, p. 336).
• Smith MA (1935). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Reptilia and Amphibia. Vol. II.—Sauria. London: Secretary of State for India in Council. (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 440 pp. + Plate I + 2 maps. (Genus Nessia, pp. 356–357; Nessia bipes, nomen novum, p. 359).
• Taylor EH (1950). "Ceylonese Lizards of the Family Scincidae". University of Kansas Science Bulletin 33 (2): 481–518. (Genus Nessia, pp. 508–509; Nessia deraniyagalai, new species, pp. 516–518, Figures 8A, 8B).
• Batuwita S, Edirisinghe U (2017). "Nessia gansi: a Second Three-toed Snake-Skink (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) from Sri Lanka with the Designation of a Neotype for Nessia burtonii Gray". Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle «Grigore Antipa» 60 (1): 377–388.