National Museum of Natural Science

The Chong’an grass lizard is distributed in southeastern China and was first described by zoologist Clifford Pope in 1928. It is called the Chong’an grass lizards as its type specimen is from Chong’an in Fujian Province. This is a green grass lizard that has small dorsal scales, similar to those of the Sakishima grass lizard, as well as four pairs of chin shields and three pairs of femoral pores.

Reptile taxonomy fact: Clifford Pope was an American herpetologist who visited China many times in the early 20^th century and discovered many reptile species. To commemorate his contributions, later herpetologists named some reptile species after him, such as a frog species (Megophrys popei) and Pope’s skink (Plestiodon popei).

Takydromus sylvaticus