Abstract

The status of the New Caledonian scincid lizard Caledoniscincus austrocaledonicus (Bavay) is reviewed and found to comprise two species. The species conspecific with the designated neotype is widespread and morphologically diverse, the other is conspecific with Euprepes haplorhinus Günther and is also widespread in distribution. These two species occur in sympatry over much of their range, particularly on the west coast. Six new species of Caledoniscincus are described from the central and northern regions of the island, bringing to eleven the total number of species in the genus. The new species are restricted to closed forest habitat and have limited distributions, hence they are all regarded as vulnerable to disturbance of this habitat type. The eight species dealt with in this paper are recognised on the basis of combined morphological and genetic (allozyme) analysis of 36 populations representing all members in the genus.

 
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Bibliographic Data

Short Form
Sadlier et al., 1999, Rec. Aust. Mus. 51(1): 57–82
Author
Ross A. Sadlier; Aaron M. Bauer; Donald J. Colgan
Year
1999
Title
The scincid lizard genus Caledoniscincus (Reptilia: Scincidae) from New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific: a review of Caledoniscincus austrocaledonicus (Bavay) and description of six new species from Province Nord
Serial Title
Records of the Australian Museum
Volume
51
Issue
1
Start Page
57
End Page
82
DOI
10.3853/j.0067-1975.51.1999.1295
Language
en
Date Published
07 June 1999
Cover Date
07 June 1999
ISSN (print)
0067-1975
CODEN
RAUMAJ
Publisher
The Australian Museum
Place Published
Sydney, Australia
Subjects
REPTILIA; NEW CALEDONIA; TAXONOMY
Digitized
07 June 1999
Available Online
07 June 1999
Reference Number
1295
EndNote
1295.enw
Title Page
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