. Current herpetology. Reptiles; Herpetology. 10 Current Herpetol. 21(1) 2002 habitats along forest streams (, Taylor, 1963; Brown and Alcala, 1980). During recent herpetological surveys in Indochina, specimens of skinks, characterized by distinctly depressed bodies with strongly keeled lateral scales, were collected from three localities, two in Thailand and one in Vietnam (Fig. 1). These skinks possessed superficial tympanums and thus were identi- fied as members of the genus Tropidophorus. They most resembled T. baviensis Bourret, 1939 from northern Vietnam in body size, body shape, and
. Current herpetology. Reptiles; Herpetology. 10 Current Herpetol. 21(1) 2002 habitats along forest streams (, Taylor, 1963; Brown and Alcala, 1980). During recent herpetological surveys in Indochina, specimens of skinks, characterized by distinctly depressed bodies with strongly keeled lateral scales, were collected from three localities, two in Thailand and one in Vietnam (Fig. 1). These skinks possessed superficial tympanums and thus were identi- fied as members of the genus Tropidophorus. They most resembled T. baviensis Bourret, 1939 from northern Vietnam in body size, body shape, and scutellation, but differed from the latter or any other congeneric species so far described by distinct depression of body. Also, specimens from the three localities showed substantial differences from each other in a number of morphological charac- ters. We thus describe three new species of Tropidophorus on the basis of these speci- mens. 105°E 110°E Myiongte-- f ----- _ I ,,< -; o ?Quang Thanh I Ba Vi O Cue Phuong O. Fig. 1. Known localities of the three depressed- bodied Tropidophorus and T. baviensis. Open circles, T baviensis; closed rectangle, T matsuii sp. nov.; closed triangle, T. latiscutatus sp. nov.; and closed diamond, T murphyi sp. nov. Materials and Methods The specimens, euthanized with diethyl ether or nembutal solution, were fixed with 10% buffered formalin, soaked in water, and preserved in 75% ethanol. Then measure- ments were taken to the nearest mm with dial calipers. Initially all specimens were numbered according to the reference systems of the Zoological Collection, Kyoto University Museum (KUZ), and the Field Number, Royal Ontario Museum (Field No. ROM). Some of them were then moved to the Zoological Collections of Thailand Natural History Museum (TNHM), Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Zoological Institute, Russian Acad- emy of Sciences, St Petersburg (ZISP), and Natural History Museum of Chulalongkorn University (CUMZ). Five specimens of T. bavi
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