= Mabuya heathi
{c}
{title2=Brasiliscincus heathi}
<Mabuya heathi> is the historical scientific name of a Brazilian <skink> now listed as \i[Brasiliscincus heathi]. The name used in older reproductive studies identifies the same species under an earlier generic classification.https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/Brasiliscincus/heathi[Accepted combination, synonymy and distribution]{ref}
The species is important in the study of <viviparity> and <placental matrotrophy>. In a 1984 study, <Daniel G. Blackburn> and colleagues compared the small ovulated eggs with developing offspring and examined the reproductive tissues. They reported eggs about one millimetre across and estimated that placental transfer supplied more than $99\%$ of fetal dry mass near birth. The estimate concerns dry material accumulated during development, rather than simply uptake of water.<Eutherian-like reproductive specializations in a viviparous reptile by Daniel G. Blackburn and others>[Abstract and reproductive measurements, pages 4860–4863]{ref}
The comparison demonstrates that live birth can involve extensive maternal nutrient supply after ovulation. Its similarity to nutritional support in placental <mammals> is an example of <convergent evolution>; it does not place the skink within the mammalian lineage.
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