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Issue: Vol. 2799 No. 1: 24 Mar. 2011
Type: Articles
Published: 2011-03-24
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2799.1.3
Page range: 29–40
Abstract views: 46
PDF downloaded: 1

Peninsular Malaysia’s first limbless lizard: a new species of skink of the genus Larutia (Böhme) from Pulau Pinang with a phylogeny of the genus

Department of Biology, La Sierra University, 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, California, 92515-8247 USA Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Dyche Hall, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence Kansas, 66045-7561, USA
Department of Biology, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, Pennsylvania 92108, USA
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Dyche Hall, 1345 Jayhawk Boulevard, Lawrence Kansas, 66045-7561, USA
School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Minden, Penang, Malaysia
Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Reptilia Larutia Larutia penangensis Malaysia new species Penang Pulau Pinang Scincidae taxonomy phylogeny

Abstract

A new species of the scincid genus Larutia, L. penangensis sp. nov., from Pulau Pinang, Peninsular Malaysia is separated from all other congeners by having the unique characteristics of the complete absence of limbs, four supralabials, large body scales, and no banding or striping pattern. Additionally, it has the following unique combination of characters that further separates it from all congeners: a single presubocular; separated nasals; paired frontoparietals; small, widely separated prefrontals; no supranasals or postnasal; two postsupralabials; and large, posterior chinshields that contact the infralabials. A molecular phylogeny based on one mitochondrial and two nuclear genes from all species of Larutia from Peninsular Malaysia indicates L. penangensis sp. nov. is most basal and that L. seribuatensis is the sister lineage to a clade containing L. miodactyla and the sister species L. trifasciata and L. larutensis. Consistencies and inconsistencies between this phylogeny and a previously proposed morphological phylogeny are discussed.

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