Abstract

This monograph reviews the alpha taxonomy of the scincid lizards of New Caledonia (excluding the Loyalty Islands group). It also touches on the beta taxonomy of the species where possible but leaves much of this problem to a future review of phylogenetic relationships of the Lygosomine lineage of which New Caledonian species are a part. The following 10 genera including 24 species are recognized: Geoscincus n. gen.: G. haraldmeieri (Böhme); Phoboscincus Greer, 1974: P. bocourti (Brocchi), P. garnieri (Bavay); Graciliscincus n. gen.: G. shonae n. sp.; Leiolopisma Duméril & Bibron, 1839: L. nigrofasciolatum (Peters), L. greeri Böhme, L. steindachneri (Bocage), L. novaecaledoniae (Parker); Tropidoscincus Bocage, 1873: T. variabilis (Bavay), T. aubrianus Bocage, T. rohssii (Anderson); Marmorosphax n. gen.: M. tricolor (Bavay), M. euryotis (Werner); Caledoniscincus n. gen.: C. austrocaledonicus (Bavay), C. atropunctatus (Roux), C. jestivus (Roux), C. orestes n. sp.; Sigaloseps n. gen.: S. deplanchei (Bavay); Cryptoblepharus Weigmann, 1834: C. novocaledonicus Mertens; Nannoscincus Günther, 1872: N. mariei (Bavay), N. gracilis (Bavay), N. sleveni (Loveridge), N. rankini n. sp., N. greeri n. sp. Most of the recognised species are endemic to the main island and most are confined to rainforest habitats. Some also occur on adjacent offshore islands. Generic accounts contain synonymies, diagnostic features and lists of species included. Keys are provided for monophyletic genera with more than two species. Species accounts contain data on synonymies, diagnostic features, types, morphology, habits, distribution, historical and taxonomic remarks, and specimens examined.

 
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Bibliographic Data

Short Form
Sadlier, 1987, Rec. Aust. Mus. 39(1): 1–66
Author
Ross A. Sadlier
Year
1987
Title
A review of the scincid lizards of New Caledonia
Serial Title
Records of the Australian Museum
Volume
39
Issue
1
Start Page
1
End Page
66
DOI
10.3853/j.0067-1975.39.1987.164
Language
en
Date Published
05 May 1987
Cover Date
05 May 1987
ISSN (print)
0067-1975
CODEN
RAUMAJ
Publisher
The Australian Museum
Place Published
Sydney, Australia
Subjects
REPTILIA; TAXONOMY; NEW CALEDONIA
Digitized
23 January 2009
Available Online
27 February 2009
Reference Number
164
Comments
published 1987 not 1986 as indicated on page 1
EndNote
164.enw
Title Page
164.pdf
File size: 91kB
Complete Work
164_complete.pdf
File size: 21190kB