Sadlier R. A., Deuss M., Bauer A. M., Jourdan Hervé. (2019). Kuniesaurus albiauris, a new genus and species of scincid lizard from the Ile des Pins, New Caledonia, with comments on the diversity and affinities of the region's lizard fauna. Pacific Science, 73 (1), p. 123-141. ISSN 0030-8870.
Titre du document
Kuniesaurus albiauris, a new genus and species of scincid lizard from the Ile des Pins, New Caledonia, with comments on the diversity and affinities of the region's lizard fauna
Sadlier R. A., Deuss M., Bauer A. M., Jourdan Hervé
Source
Pacific Science, 2019,
73 (1), p. 123-141 ISSN 0030-8870
A new genus and species of skink, Kuniesaurus albiauris, is here described from the Ile des Pins off southern New Caledonia. This new taxon possesses a unique suite of morphological apomorphies (scalation) that does not allow it to be placed in any existing Australasian eugongylid genus. It is known only from a single area in dense coastal forest on limestone, on the main island of the Ile des Pins. The species area of occupancy is restricted, and the habitat occupied under threat from the spread of the highly invasive Little Red Fire Ant Wasmannia auropunctata. These factors place this new skink at a level of risk sufficient for it to be listed as Critically Endangered under IUCN Red List criteria. The affinities of the lizard fauna of the Ile des Pins with respect to that present on southern New Caledonia are also discussed, most notably the absence from the Ile des Pins of taxa typically restricted to ultramafic surfaces.
Plan de classement
Sciences du monde animal [080]
;
Etudes, transformation, conservation du milieu naturel [082]
