A new ancient lineage of ablepharine skinks (Sauria: Scincidae) from eastern Himalayas with notes on origin and systematics of the group

Abstract

The Himalayas represent a renowned biodiversity hotspot and an important biogeographic realm that has influenced origin and diversification of multiple taxa. A recent herpetological investigation of the eastern Himalayas of the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh led to the discovery of a unique lineage of ablepharine skink, which is herein described as a new genus along with a new species. The findings are based an integrated taxonomic approach incorporating data from external morphology, microCT scans of the skull and molecular data. The molecular phylogeny of ablepharine skinks is also presented that suggests taxonomic amendments. Discovery of this unique lineage of skinks further highlights the biogeographic importance of the eastern Himalayas as a source for origin of several relic biota.

A NEW MONTANE-DWELLING SPECIES OF Japalura GRAY, 1853 (SQUAMATA: AGAMIDAE) FROM ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA

“…The Eastern Himalayas are said to host greater biodiversity in comparison with the central and western Himalayas, which are said to have a subset of the biodiversity of the Eastern Himalayas (Mani 1974). Furthermore, that area appears to be the centre of origin of several evolutionarily distinct lineages (Kamei et al 2012, Xu et al 2021, Mirza et al 2022. The discovery of a new species of agamid from the region is not surprising as it has only been poorly explored in terms of its reptilian diversity.…”

A new species of bent-toed geckos of the genus Cyrtodactylus Gray, 1827 from western Arunachal Pradesh, India

“…The description of yet another new species of reptile from Arunachal Pradesh highlights how little exploration has been conducted in this region to document its reptilian fauna. The discovery of a new skink genus (Mirza et al 2022), several species of snakes (Bhosale et al 2019(Bhosale et al , 2020Captain et al 2019;Mirza et al 2020) and a new Cyrtodactylus (Mirza et al 2021) from Arunachal Pradesh warrant dedicated surveys to document its reptilian diversity.…”