Papuascincus, ALLISON & GREER, 1986

Slavenko, Alex, Tamar, Karin, Tallowin, Oliver J S, Kraus, Fred, Allison, Allen, Carranza, Salvador & Meiri, Shai, 2022, Revision of the montane New Guinean skink genus Lobulia (Squamata: Scincidae), with the description of four new genera and nine new species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 195 (1), pp. 220-278 : 239

PAPUASCINCUS ALLISON & GREER

(CLADE IV)

( FIG. 5 ; SUPPORTING INFORMATION, FIG. S6 ; TABLE 1 )

Papuascincus Allison & Greer, 1986 . Journal of Herpetology 20(1): 116–119.

Type species: Lygosoma stanleyanum Boulenger, 1897 , by original designation.

Diagnosis: Medium-sized (adult SVL 36.3–67.8 mm) terrestrial skinks with short forelimbs (forelimbs 25.1– 38.9% of SVL) and moderately long hindlimbs (33.6– 49.6% of SVL); lobules present on anterior edge of ear opening; single pair of chin shields in medial contact; three supralabials posterior to subocular supralabial; chin shields abutting infralabials; lower eyelid with semitransparent window; standard three-scale temporal region; nasal scale divided by a horizontal suture extending posteriorly from the nostril; frontoparietals fused; oviparous; clutch size two; pustulate egg shells.

Papuascincus differs from all other genera by having pustulate egg shells and a divided (vs. undivided) nasal scale. It further differs from Nubeoscincus , Prasinohaema and Lobulia by having one pair of chin shields in medial contact (vs. two pairs) and an oviparous (vs. viviparous) reproductive mode. It further differs from Nubeoscincus and Prasinohaema by having the standard three-scale temporal region (vs. fragmented temporal region) and the chin shields abutting the infralabials (vs. chin shields separated from infralabials by a row of genials). It further differs from Prasinohaema by lacking green blood serum and tissues ( Greer, 1974), a prehensile tail with a glandular tip and basally expanded subdigital lamellae.

Species included: Papuascincus buergersi ( Vogt, 1932) ; Papuascincus morokanus ( Parker, 1936) ; Papuascincus phaeodes ( Vogt, 1932) ; Papuascincus stanleyanus ( Boulenger, 1897) .

D i s t r i b u t i o n: M e m b e r s o f Pa p u a s c i n c u s a r e widespread across montane regions of New Guinea, ranging from the Papuan Peninsula to the Central Highlands in Papua Province ( Indonesia).

Remarks: The genus Papuascincus most likely contains more species than currently recognized ( Slavenko et al., 2020). However, members of the genus appear to be more morphologically conservative than the other genera described in this manuscript. A full taxonomic revision of Papuascincus is underway.

Figures

Figure 5. Representatives of each of the seven revised genera, not to scale: (A) Lobulia huonensis (BPBM 40322); (B) Prasinohaema flavipes (BPBM 40369); (C) Nubeoscincus glacialis (BPBM 14712); (D) Papuascincus lineage VII (BPBM 44749); (E) Palaia pulchra (BPBM 38789); (F) Alpinoscincus alpinus (BPBM 44218); (G) Ornithuroscincus pterophilus (BPBM 45705). Images by Allen Allison.

Figure 6. Pictures in life of (A) Lobulia brongersmai (BPBM 34733); (B) Lobulia elegans (BPBM 18692); (C) Lobulia fortis (paratype; BPBM 41130); (D) Lobulia huonensis (holotype; BPBM 40322); (E) Lobulia lobulus (BPBM 47837); (F) Lobulia marmorata (holotype; BPBM 34150). Images A, B, F by Fred Kraus, images C–E by Allen Allison.