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Issue: Vol. 2765 No. 1: 15 Feb. 2011
Type: Articles
Published: 2011-02-15
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2765.1.4
Page range: 47–57
Abstract views: 55
PDF downloaded: 19

A new Emoia samoensis group lizard (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Cook Islands, South-central Pacific

Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia 20013 USA
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095 USA Museum of Natural Science and Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803 USA
Museum of Natural Science and Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803 USA
Reptilia Emoia samoensis group Pacific Ocean Oceania geographic variation new species

Abstract

The first published report of a large treeskink from Rarotonga, Cook Islands, appeared in 1988. The first museum voucher specimen was collected in 1984. Although this skink seems likely to be a recent arrival to the island of Rarotonga, it represents a unique member of the Emoia samoensis species group. We compare this population with other members of the E. samoensis group and describe the population as Emoia tuitarere n. sp., distinguished by a suite of external characters including SVL, number of dorsal scale rows, and number of subdigital lamellae of the fourth toe. We provide preliminary definitions for the concolor and samoensis species subgroups proposed by Brown (1991), although current molecular data do not support their monophyly (Hamilton et al., 2010).

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