Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 4173 No. 1: 3 Oct. 2016
Type: Article
Published: 2016-10-02
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4173.1.3
Page range: 29–44
Abstract views: 147
PDF downloaded: 2

The first riparian skink (Genus: Sphenomorphus Strauch, 1887) from Peninsular Malaysia and its relationship to other Indochinese and Sundaic species

Department of Biology, La Sierra University, 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, California 92515 USA.
Department of Biology, La Sierra University, 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, California 92515 USA.
Department of Biology, Brigham Young University, 150 East Bulldog Boulevard, Provo, Utah, 84602 USA.
Pusat Pengajian Sains Marin dan Sekitaran, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.
Pusat Pengajian Sains Marin dan Sekitaran, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.
Pusat Pengajian Sains Marin dan Sekitaran, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.
School of Environment and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
School of Environment and Natural Resource Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, University Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
Department of Biology, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, Washington, 98195 USA.
Reptilia Integrative taxonomy New species Scincidae Southeast Asia Sundaland

Abstract

Recently discovered populations of skinks of the genus Sphenomorphus from central Peninsular Malaysia represent a new species, S. sungaicolus sp. nov., and the first riparian skink known from Peninsular Malaysia. Morphological analyses of an earlier specimen reported as S. tersus from the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), Selangor indicate that it too is the new riparian species S. sungaicolus sp. nov. Additionally, two specimens from the Tembat Forest Reserve, Hulu Terengganu, Kelantan and another from Ulu Gombak, Selangor have been diagnosed as new the species. The latter specimen remained unidentified in the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii since its collection in June 1962. Morphological and molecular analyses demonstrate that S. sungaicolus sp. nov. forms a clade with the Indochinese species S. maculatus, S. indicus, and S. tersus and is the sister species of the latter. Sphenomorphus sungaicolus sp. nov. can be differentiated from all other members of this clade by having a smaller SVL (66.5–89.6 mm); 39–44 midbody scale rows; 72–81 paravertebral scales; 74–86 ventral scales; a primitive plantar scale arrangement; and 20–22 scale rows around the tail at the position of the 10th subcaudal.

 

References

  1. Diong, C.H., Kiew, B.H. & Lim, B.L. (1995) An annotated checklist of the lizard fauna in the Temengor Forest Reserve, Hulu Perak, Malaysia. Malaysia Nature Journal, 48 (3–4), 353–356.

    Drummond, A.J., Suchard, M.A., Xie, D. & Rambaut, A. (2012) An annotated checklist of the lizard fauna in the Temengor Forest Reserve, Hulu Perak, Malaysia. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 29 (8), 1969–1973.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/mss075

    Fitzinger, L. (1843) Systema Reptilium. Fasciculus Primas Amblyglossae. Braumüller et Seidel, Vienna, 106 pp.

    Grismer, L.L. (2007) A new specie of small montane forest floor skink (Genus Sphenomorphus Fitzinger, 1843) from southern Peninsular Malaysia. Herpetologica, 64 (4), 544–551.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1655/0018-0831(2007)63[544:ansosm]2.0.co;2

    Grismer, L.L. (2008) A new species of insular skink (Genus Sphenomorphu Fitzinger, 1843) from the Langkawi Archipelago, Kedah, West Malaysia with the first report of the herpetofauna of Pulau Singa Besar and an updated checklist of the herpetofauna of Pulau Langkawi. Zootaxa, 1691, 53–66.

    Grismer, L.L. (2011) Lizards of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and their adjacent archipelagos. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt, 36 pp. [pp. 641–676]

    Grismer, L.L., Ahmad, N. & Onn, C.K. (2009a) A new diminutive, upland Sphenomorphus Fitizinger, 1843 (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Belum-Tememgor Forest Complex, Peninsular Malaysia. Zootaxa, 2312, 27–38.

    Grismer, L.L., Wood, P.L. Jr. & Grismer, J.L. (2009b) A New Insular Species of Skink of the Genus Sphenomorphus Strauch, 1887 (Squamata: Scincidae) from Pulau Perhentian Besar, Terengganu, Peninsular Malaysia. Tropical Life Sciences Research, 20 (1), 51–69.

    Grismer, L.L., Quah, E.S.H, Anuar, M.S., S., Muin, M.A., Wood, P.L. Jr. & Nor, A.M. (2014a) A diminutive new species of cave-dwelling Wolf Snake (Colubridae: Lycodon Boie, 1826) from Peninsular Malaysia. Zootaxa, 3815 (1), 051–067.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3815.1.3

    Grismer, J.L., Onn, C.K., Quah, E.S.H. & Pauwels, S.A. (2014b) Systematics and natural history of Southeast Asian Rock Geckos (genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887) with descriptions of eight new speices from malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Zootaxa, 3880 (1), 1–147.

    http://dx.doi.org/10/11646/zootaxa.3880.1.1

    Grismer, L.L. & Quah, E.S.H. (2015) The Rediscovery of Sphenomorphus malayanus Doria, 1888 (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Titiwangsa Mountain Range of Peninsular Malaysia and its redescription as S. senja sp. nov. Zootaxa, 3931 (1), 63–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3931.1.4

    Grismer, L.L., Wood, P.L. Jr., Aowphol, A., Cota, M., Grismer, M.S., Murdoch, M.L., Aguilar, C. & Grismer, J.L. (2016) Out of Borneo again and again: biogeography of the Stream Toad genus Ansonia Stoliczka (Anura: Bufonidae) and the discovery of the first limestone cave dwelling species. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, in press.

    Grismer, L.L, Wood, P.L. Jr., Lee, C.H., Quah, E.S.H., Anaur, S., Ngadi, E. & Sites J.W., Jr. (2015) An integrative taxonomic review of the agamid genus Bronchocela (Kuhl, 1820) from Peninsular Malaysia with descriptions of new montane and insular endemics. Zootaxa, 3948 (1), 001–023.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3948.1.1

    Hedges, S.B., Nussbaum, R.A. & Maxson, L.R. (1993) Caecilian phylogeny and biogeography inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences of the 12S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes (Amphibia: Gymnophiona). Herpetological Monographs, 7, 64–76. Available from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1466952 (accessed 24 July 2016)

    Honda, M., Ota, H., Murphy, R.W. & Hikida, T. (2006) Phylogeny and biogeography of the water skinks of the genus Tropidophorus (Reptilia: Scincidae): a molecular approach. Zoological Scripta, 35 (1), 85–95.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1463-6409.2005.00215.x

    Huelsenbeck, J., & Ronquist, F. (2001) MRBAYES: Bayesian inference of phylogeny. Bioinformatics, 17 (8), 754–755.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/17.8.754

    Ibrahim, J., Shahrul, M.S., Norhayati, A., Shukor, M.N., Shahriza, S., Nurul’ Ain, E., Nor Zalipah, M. & Rayan, D.M. (2006) An annotated checklist of the herpetofauna of Langkawi island, Kedah, Malaysia. Malayan Nature Journal, 57, 369–382.

    Kocher, T.D., Thomas, W.K., Meyer, A., Edwards, S.V., Pääbo, S., Villablanca, F.X. & Wilson, A.C. (1989) Dynamics of mitochondrial DNA evolution in animals: Amplification and sequencing of conserved primers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 86 (16), 6196–6200.

    Leong, T.M., Yaakob, S.Y. & Das, I. (2002) Geographic distribution. Sphenomorphus tersus. Herpetological Review, 33 (2), 149.

    Lim, L.J. (1998) The taxonomy of West Malaysia and Singapore Scincidae (Reptilia: Sauria). Unpublished M.S. Thesis, National University for Singapore, Kent Ridge, 234 pp.

    Linkem, C.W., Diesmos, A.C. & Brown, R.M. (2011) Molecular systematics of the Philippine forest skinks (Squamata: Scincidae: Sphenomorphus): testing morphological hypotheses of interspecific relationships. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 163 (4), 1217–1243.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00747.x

    Linkem, C.W. (2013) Molecular Phylogenetics and Biogeography of Sphenomorphini (Squamata: Scincidae). Ph.D. Thesis. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas. Available from: https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/10436 (accessed 24 July 2016)

    Loredo, A.I., Wood, P.L. Jr., Quah, E.S.H., Anuar, S.H., Greer, L., Norhayati, A. & Grismer, L.L. (2013) Cryptic speciation within Asthenodipsas vertebralis (Boulenger, 1900) (Squamata: Pareatidae), the description of a new species from Peninsular Malaysia, and the resurrection of A. tropidonotus (Lidth de Jude, 1923) from Sumatra: an integrative taxonomic analysis. Zootaxa, 3664 (4), 505–524.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3664.4.5

    Macey, J.R. & Verma, A. (1997) Homology in phylogenetic analysis: Alignment of transfer RNA genes and the phylogenic position of snakes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 7 (2), 272–279.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/mpev.1997.0379

    Maddison, W.P. & Maddison, D.R. (2015) Mesquite: a modular system for evolutionary analysis. Version 3.04. Available from: http://mesquiteproject.org (accessed 12 December 2015)

    Miller, M.A., Pfeiffer, W. & Schwartz, T. (2010) Creating the CIPRES Science Gateway for inference of large phylogenetic trees. Proceedings of the Gateway Computing Enviroments Workshop (GCE), 14 November 2010, New Orleans, LA, 1–8.

    Nguyen, L.-T., Schmidt, H.A., von Haeseler, A. & Minh, B.Q. (2015) IQ-TREE: A fast and effective stochastic algorithm for estimating maximum likelihood phylogenies. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 32 (1), 268–274.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msu300

    Rambaut, A., Suchard, M.A., Xie, D. & Drummond, A.J. (2014) Tracer v1.6. Available from: http://beast.bio.ed.ac.uk/Tracer (accessed 21 December 2015)

    Rambaut, A. & Drummond, A.J. (2013) TreeAnnotator v1.8.0 MCMC Output Analysis. Available from: http://beast.bio.ed.ac.uk/TreeAnnotator (accessed 15 February 2015)

    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 Choice across a Large Model Space. Systematic Biology, 61 (3), 539–542.

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

    Shea, G.M. (2012) On the identity of the type species of Sphenomorphus (Squamata: Scincidae): Lygosoma melanopogon Dúmeril and Bibron 1839, with a note on a new scalation character on the pes in Sphenomorphus. Zootaxa, 3490, 1–29.

    Tamura, K., Peterson, D., Peterson, N., Stecher, G., Nei, M. & Kumar, S. (2011) MEGA5: Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis using Maximum Likelihood, Evolutionary Distance, and Maximum Parsimony Methods. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 28 (10), 2731–2739.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msr121

    Taylor, E.H. (1963) The lizards of Thailand. University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 44, 687–1077.

    Wilcox, T.P., Zwickl, D.J., Heath, T.A. & Hillis, D.M. (2002) Phylogenetic relationships of the Dwarf Boas and a comparison of Bayesian and bootstrap measures of phylogenetic support. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 25 (2002), 361–371.
    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s1055-7903(02)00244-0

    Uetz, P. (2016) The Reptile Database. Available from: http://www.reptile-database.org (accessed 24 July 2016)