Chalcides lanzai, or Lanza's skink, is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Morocco.
Taxonomy Chalcides lanzai has been considered a subspecies of Chalcides montanus and of Chalcides ocellatus.
Etymology The specific name, lanzai, is in honor of Italian herpetologist Benedetto Lanza.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Chalcides lanzai, p. 151).
Habitat C. lanzai is usually found in forest and grassland areas, and is common in the areas where it can be found.
Conservation status C. lanzai is unlikely to be under serious threat, though it has been affected from habitat degradation due to overgrazing.
Reproduction Adult females of the species C. lanzai give birth to live young. Its mode of reproduction has been described as being viviparous and as being ovoviviparous.
References
Further reading Pasteur G (1967). "Notes sur les sauriens du genre Chalcides (Scincidés). II. Premièr note sur le complexe de Chalcides ocellatus, avec description de Chalcides ocellatus lanzai". Bulletin de la Société des Sciences Naturelles et Physiques du Maroc 47: 395–398. (Chalcides ocellatus lanzai, new subspecies). (in French).