A New Genus and Species of Lizard (Reptilia: Scincidae) from New Caledonia, Southwest Pacific!

An unusual new lygosomine skink, Simiscincus aurantiacus Sadlier & Bauer, n. sp., is described from a single specimen collected in southern New Caledonia. This species is a member of the Eugongyius group of skinks, but is not readily assignable to any known genus. It has a number of derived characteristics that serve to distinguish it, the most notable of which is the highest number of premaxillary teeth of any scincid. Although its relationships cannot, at present, be established unambiguously, it appears to share affinities with another monotypic endemic New Caledonian genus, Graciliscincus. The discovery of this species highlights the extreme diversity and endemicity of the New Caledonian lizard fauna. THE TERRESTRlAL HERPETOFAUNA of New Caledonia is extremely diverse and highly endemic (Bauer and Vindum 1990, Bauer and Sadlier 1993) and is dominated by carphodactyline geckos and lygosomine skinks of the Eugongyius group. Many of the New Caledonian lizards are apparently restricted to small regions of the island as a whole. Indeed, a recent review of the status of the lizard fauna of New Caledonia identified almost half the species either as moderately well known but restricted in distribution or as known from only a few specimens from one or a few localities (Bauer and Sadlier 1993). Among the latter are several morphologically bizarre lygosomine skink species, Phoboscincus bocourti (Brocchi), Geoscincus haraidmeieri (Bohme), and Graciliscincus shonae Sadlier, that show a number of unusual characteristics in scalation and body form and do not resemble any other species in the Eugongyius group of skinks (Sadlier 1986). Recent fieldwork has revealed the presence of another unusual New Caledonian skink known from only a single specimen. This lizard cannot be readily assigned to any existing group of species and is here described as the sole representative of a new genus. I Manuscript accepted 29 August 1995. 2 Section of Herpetology, Australian Museum, 6-8 College Street, Sydney 2000, NSW, Australia. 3 Department of Biology, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, Pennsylvania 19085. 91 Simiscincus Sadlier & Bauer, n. genus TYPE SPECIES: Simiscincus aurantiacus Sadlier & Bauer, n. sp., here designated. DIAGNOSIS: Simiscincus is diagnosed as a member of the Eugongyius group of skinks as defined by Greer (1979): the parietals meet behind the interparietal; the parietal is bordered along its posterior edge by an upper secondary temporal and transversely enlarged nuchal scale; medial preanal scales more or less subequal in size to and overlapped by more lateral preanals; and the scales on the dorsal surface of fourth toe are in a single row throughout the length of the digit. Simiscincus can be distinguished from other genera in the Eugongyius group by the following unique combination of characters: depressed and elongate body form; supranasal present as a prenasal crease and postnasal suture; loreal single; lower eyelid with a semitransparent disk; ear opening lacking auricular lobules; paravertebral scales 99; premaxillary teeth 19; presacral vertebrae 29; atlantal arches fused to intercentrum. ETYMOLOGY: The generic name Simiscincus is derived from a combination of the Latin simus for pug-nosed, referring to the broad, blunt snout characteristic of the type species of the genus, and the Latin scincus for scincid lizard.