Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 4162 No. 1: 8 Sept. 2016
Type: Article
Published: 2016-09-08
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4162.1.3
Page range: 61–91
Abstract views: 87
PDF downloaded: 4

Cryptic diversity within the narrowly endemic Lerista wilkinsi group of north Queensland—two new species (Reptilia: Scincidae)

Biodiversity, Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane 4101, Australia.
Biodiversity, Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane 4101, Australia.
Biodiversity, Queensland Museum, PO Box 3300, South Brisbane 4101, Australia.
Reptilia Australia Einasleigh Uplands Bioregion endangered habitat fine-lined slider skinks semi-evergreen vine thickets

Abstract

Herein we describe two new species of the skink genus Lerista from north-eastern Queensland, based on morphological and genetic data.  Additionally, we redescribe L. cinerea as this species is morphologically more variable than previously suggested.  We allocate these three species to the L. wilkinsi group (Greer et al. 1983) which is here identified as an endemic Queensland radiation, comprising L. ameles, L. cinerea, L. hobsoni sp. nov., L. storri, L. vanderduysi sp. nov., L. vittata and L. wilkinsi.  A number of these species have strong associations with semi-evergreen vine thickets, listed as an endangered habitat under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999).

 

References

  1. Amey, A. (2012) Mount Cooper Striped Skink, Lerista vittata Greer, McDonald & Lawrie, 1983. In: Curtis, L.K., Dennis, A.J., McDonald, K.R., Kyne, P.M. & Debus, S.J.S. (Eds.), Queensland's Threatened Animals. CSIRO, Collingwood, pp. 232–233.

    Amey, A.P. & Couper, P.J. (2009) A new limb-reduced skink (Scincidae: Lerista) from the dry rainforest of north Queensland, Australia. Zootaxa, 2173, 19–30.

    Amey, A.P., Kutt, A.S. & Hutchinson, M. (2005) A new species of Lerista (Scincidae) from central Queensland. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 50, 125–131.

    Amey, A.P. & Worthington Wilmer, J. (2014) Morphological diversity and genetic structure within Lerista kalumburu Storr, 1976 (Squamata: Scincomorpha: Sphenomorphidae)—taxonomic implications. Zootaxa, 3821 (2), 239–252.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3821.2.4

    Arevalo, E., Davis, S.K. & Sites, J.W. (1994) Mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence and phylogenetic relationships among eight chromosome races of the Sceloporus grammicus complex (Phrynosomatidae) in central Mexico. Systematic Biology, 43, 387–418.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/43.3.387

    Australasian Reptile & Amphibian Specialist Group (1996) Lerista vittata. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 1996, e.T11805A3309668.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T11805A3309668.en

    Australian Government (1999) Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act C2016C00667, Canberra, ACT. Available from: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00667 (Accessed 28 June 2016)

    Bell, T. (1833) Characters of two new genera of reptiles. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1, 98–99.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1833.tb06430.x

    Bowman, D.M.J.S., Brown, G.K., Braby, M.F., Brown, J.R., Cook, L.G., Crisp, M.D., Ford, F., Haberle, S., Hughes, J., Isagi, Y., Joseph, L/, McBride, J., Nelson, G. & Ladiges, P.Y. (2010) Biogeography of the Australian monsoon tropics. Journal of Biogeography, 37, 201–216.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2009.02210.x

    Cardinal, B.R. & Christidis, L. (2000) Mitochondrial DNA and morphology reveal three geographically distinct lineages of the large bentwing bat (Miniopterus schriebersii) in Australia. Australian Journal of Zoology, 48, 1–19.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/ZO99067

    Couper, P.J. & Amey, A.P. (2009) Lerista karlschmidti (Marx and Hosmer, 1959) (Sauria: Scincidae): re-examination of the type series, reassignment of a paratype and distribution notes. Zootaxa, 2312, 39–48.

    Couper, P.J. & Ingram, G.J. (1992) A new species of skink of Lerista from Queensland and a re-appraisal of L. allanae (Longman). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 32, 55–59.

    De Vis, C.W. (1888) A contribution to the herpetology of Queensland. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 2, 811–826.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.29213

    De Vis, C.W. (1889) Characters of a naked-eye skink apparently new. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland, 5, 160–161.

    Eldridge, M.D.B., Potter, S., Johnson, C.N. & Ritchie, E.G. (2014) Differing impact of a major biogeographical barrier on genetic structure in two large kangaroos from the monsoon tropics of Northern Australia. Ecology and Evolution, 1–14.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.954

    Fischer, J.G. (1882) Herpetologische Bemerkungen. Archiv fuer Naturgeschichte, 48, 281–302.

    Ford, F. & Blair, D. (2005) Neat patterns with a messy history: Savannah refuges in northern Australia. Mammal Study, 30, S45–S50.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.3106/1348-6160(2005)30[45:NPWAMH]2.0.CO;2

    Ford, J. (1987) Hybrid zones in Australian birds. Emu, 87, 158–178.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MU9870158

    Fujita, M.K., McGuire, J.A., Donnellan, S.C. & Moritz, C. (2010) Diversification and persistence at the arid-monsoonal interface: Australia-wide biogeography of the Bynoe's Gecko (Heteronotia binoei; Gekkonidae). Evolution, 64, 2293–2314.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.00993.x

    Gray, J.E. (1839) XXXVIII. Catalogue of the slender-tongued saurians, with descriptions of many new genera and species (contd.). The Annals of Natural History, 2, 331–337.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933909512395

    Greer, A.E. (1979) A new species of Lerista (Lacertilia: Scincidae) from northern Queensland, with remarks on the origin of the genus. Records of the Australian Museum, 32, 383–388.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.3853/j.0067-1975.32.1979.461

    Greer, A.E. (1983) A new species of Lerista from Groote Eylandt and the Sir Edward Pellew Group in northern Australia. Journal of Herpetology, 17, 48–53.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1563780

    Greer, A.E. (1986) Diagnosis of the Lerista bipes species-group (Lacertilia: Scincidae), with a description of a new species and an updated diagnosis of the genus. Records of the Western Australian Museum, 13, 121–127.

    Greer, A.E. (1989) The Biology and Evolution of Australian Lizards. Sydney: Surrey Beatty & Sons.

    Greer, A.E., McDonald, K.R. & Lawrie, B.C. (1983) Three new species of Lerista (Scincidae) from northern Queensland with a diagnosis of the wilkinsi species group. Journal of Herpetology, 17, 247–255.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1563827

    Guindon, S. & Gascuel, O. (2003) A simple, fast and accurate algorithm to estimate large phylogenies by maximum likelihood. Systematic Biology, 52, 696–704.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10635150390235520

    Günther, A. (1867) Additions to the knowledge of Australian reptiles and fishes. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 20, 45–68.

    Günther, A. (1876) Descriptions of new species of reptiles from Australia. Journal of the Museum of Godeffroy, 5, 45–47.

    Heatwole, H. (1987) Major components and distributions of the terrestrial fauna. In: D.W. Walton & G.R. Dyne (Eds), Fauna of Australia. Australian Government Printing Service, Canberra, pp. 101–135.

    Huelsenbeck, J.P., Ronquist, F., Nielsen, R. & Bollback, J.P. (2001) Bayesian inference of phylogeny and its impact on evolutionary biology. Science, 294, 2310–2314.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1065889

    Ingram, G.J., Couper, P.J. & Donnellan, S.C. (1993) A new two-toed skink from eastern Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 33, 341–347.

    Jennings, W.B. & Edwards, S.V. (2005) Speciational history of Australian grass finches (Poephilia) inferred from thirty gene trees. Evolution, 59, 2033–2047.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2005.tb01072.x

    Kahn, T.P. & Lawrie, B.C. (1987) Vine thickets of the inland Townsville region. In: The Rainforest Legacy. Australian National Rainforests Study. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, pp. 159–199.

    Kearns, A.M., Joseph, L. & Cook, L.G. (2010) The impact of Pleistocene changes of climate and landscape on Australian birds: a test using the pied butcherbird (Cracticus nigrogularis). Emu, 110, 285–295.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/MU10020

    Kearse, M., Moir, R., Wilson, A., Stones-Havas, S., Cheung, M., Sturrock, S., Buxton, S., Cooper, A, Markowitz, S., Duran, C., Thierer, T., Ashton, B., Meintjes, P. & Drummond, A. (2012) Geneious Basic: an integrated and extendable desktop software platform for the organization and analysis of sequence data. Bioinformatics, 28, 1647–1649.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/bts199

    Keast, J.A. (1961) Bird speciation on the Australian continent. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 123, 303–495.

    Lee, J.Y. & Edwards, S.V. (2008) Divergence across Australia's Carpentarian Barrier: statistical phylogeography of the red-backed fairy wren (Malurus melancephalus). Evolution, 62, 3117–3134.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00543.x

    Lillywhite, H.B. (2008) Dictionary of Herpetology. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Co.

    Longman, H.A. (1937) Herpetological notes. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, 11, 165–168.

    Marx, H. & Hosmer, W. (1959) A new skink from Australia (Rhodona karlschmidti, sp. nov.). Copeia, 1959, 207–208.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1440388

    Mitchell, F.J. (1955) Preliminary account of the Reptilia and Amphibia collected by the National Geographic Society - Commonwealth Government - Smithsonian Institution Expedition to Arnhem Land (April to November, 1948). Records of the South Australian Museum, 11, 373–408.

    Morgan, G. (1999) Desert Uplands. In: Sattler, P.S. & Williams, R.D. (Eds), The Conservation Status of Queensland's Bioregional Ecosystems. Environmental Protection Agency, Brisbane, pp. 10/11–10/35.

    Oliver, P.M., Couper, P.J. & Pepper, M. (2014) Indenpendent transitions between monsoonal and arid biomes revealed by systematic revision of a complex of Australian geckos (Diplodactylus; Diplodactylidae). PLoS ONE, 9, e111895.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111895

    Parker, H.W. (1926) New reptiles and a new frog from Queensland. Annual Magazine of Natural History, 17, 665–670.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222932608633465

    Posada, D. (2008) jModelTest: Phylogenetic model averaging. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 25, 1253–1256.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msn083

    Posada, D. & Crandall, K.A. (1998) Modeltest: Testing the model of DNA substitution. Bioinformatics, 14, 817–818.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/14.9.817

    Queensland Government (1992) Nature Conservation Act, Brisbane, Queensland. Available from: https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/acts_sls/Acts_SL_N.htm (accessed 28 June 2016)

    Rambaut, A. (1996) Se-A: Sequence Alignment Editor v2.0a10. Available from: http://evolve.zoo.ox.ac.uk (Accessed 16 June 2016)

    Rambaut, A. (2007) FigTree v1.4.2. Available from: http://tree.bio.ed.ac.uk/software/figtree/ (Accessed 16 June 2016)

    Ronquist, F., Teslenko, M., van der Mark, P., Ayres, D.L., Darling, A., Höhna, S., Larget, B., Liu, L., Suchard, M.A. & Huelsenbeck, J.P. (2012) MRBAYES 3.2: Efficient Bayesian phylogenetic inference and model selection across a large model space. Systematic Biology, 61, 539–542.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/sys029

    Simmons, J.E. (2015) Herpetological Collecting and Collections Management (3rd ed. Vol. 42). Salt Lake City: Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles.

    Skinner, A. (2007) Phylogenetic relationships and rate of early diversification of Australian Sphenomorphus group scincids (Scincoidea, Squamata). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 92, 347–366.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00843.x

    Skinner, A. (2010) Rate heterogenity, ancestral character state reconstruction and the evolution of limb morphology in Lerista (Scincidae, Squamata). Systematic Biology, 59, 723–740.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syq055

    Skinner, A., Lee, M.S.Y. & Hutchinson, M.N. (2008) Rapid and repeated limb loss in a clade of scincid lizards. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 8, 310.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-8-310

    Storr, G.M. (1971) The genus Lerista (Lacertilia: Scincidae) in Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 54, 59–75.

    Storr, G.M. (1976) Revisionary notes on the Lerista (Lacertilia: Scincidae) of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, 4, 241–256.

    Storr, G.M. (1980) A new Lerista and two new Ctenotus (Lacertilia: Scincidae) from Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, 8, 441–447.

    Storr, G.M. (1982) Four new Lerista (Lacertilia: Scincidae) from Western and South Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, 10, 1–9.

    Storr, G.M. (1984) A new Lerista (Lacertilia: Scincidae) from Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, 11, 287–290.

    Storr, G.M. (1986) A new species of Lerista (Lacertilia: Scincidae) with two subspecies from central Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, 13, 145–149.

    Storr, G.M. (1990) A new member of the Lerista bipes group (Lacertilia: Scincidae) from the Kimberley. Records of the Western Australian Museum, 14, 439–442.

    Storr, G.M. (1991) Revision of Lerista orientalis (Lacertilia: Scincidae) of northern Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, 15, 413–417.

    Swofford, D.L. (2002) PAUP* Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (* and other methods) v4. Sinauer Associates.

    Webb, J.J. (1968) Environmental relationships of the structural types of Australian rainforest vegetation. Ecology, 49, 296–311. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1934459

    Wells, R.W. (2012) Some taxonomic and nomenclatural considerations on the class Reptilia in Australia. A reclassification of the genus Lerista (Scincidae), including the descriptions of new genera. Australian Biodiversity Record, 2012, 1–361.

    Wells, R.W. & Wellington, C.R. (1984) A synopsis of the class Reptilia in Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology, 1, 73–129.