Skinks of Oceania, New Guinea, and Eastern Wallacea: an underexplored biodiversity hotspot

Slavenko, Alex; Allison, Allen; Austin, Christopher C.; Bauer, Aaron M.; Brown, Rafe M.; Fisher, Robert N.; Ineich, Ivan; Iova, Bulisa; Karin, Benjamin R.; Kraus, Fred; Mecke, Sven; Meiri, Shai; Morrison, Clare; Oliver, Paul M.; O’Shea, Mark; Richmond, Jonathan Q.; Shea, Glenn M.; Tallowin, Oliver; Chapple, David G.

doi:10.1071/pc22034

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 116 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although we highlight that skinks have a cosmopolitan distribution (apart from Antarctica), their centres of diversity are in Australia, New Guinea, southeast Asia, Oceania, Madagascar and southern and central Africa. Apart from the hotspot in Oceania and New Guinea, which are disproportionately dominated by skinks (Slavenko et al, 2023), these diversity hotspots are largely shared with the Gekkota superfamily (Meiri, 2020), but are strikingly different from those evident in the most speciose reptile family, the colubrids (O 'Shea, 2011'Shea, , 2023. Colubrids are widespread throughout North America and Europe, and occur throughout most regions of the world, but are absent from the majority of Australia (O 'Shea, 2011'Shea, , 2023Shine, 1991).…”

Section: Skinks: a Diverse And Rapidly Growing Reptile Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Apart from the hotspot in Oceania and New Guinea, which are disproportionately dominated by skinks (Slavenko et al, 2023), these diversity hotspots are largely shared with the Gekkota superfamily (Meiri, 2020), but are strikingly different from those evident in the most speciose reptile family, the colubrids (O 'Shea, 2011'Shea, , 2023. Colubrids are widespread throughout North America and Europe, and occur throughout most regions of the world, but are absent from the majority of Australia (O 'Shea, 2011'Shea, , 2023Shine, 1991). The reasons for the relative paucity of skinks in the New World are poorly studied.…”

Section: Skinks: a Diverse And Rapidly Growing Reptile Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, given this variation, it can be exceedingly difficult to identify the defining traits of geckos (Meiri, 2020). Similarly, colubrids make up ~50% of all snakes worldwide, have a near global distribution and exhibit extreme diversity in biological and ecological traits, to the extent that it is hard to make generalisations for the group (O 'Shea, 2011'Shea, , 2023Pincheira-Donoso et al, 2013;Uetz et al, 2022). However, while it appears that skinks may share similar signatures of success (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Built for success: Distribution, morphology, ecology and life history of the world's skinks

Chapple,

Slavenko,

Tingley

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In animals, the success of particular lineages can be measured in terms of their number of species, the extent of their geographic range, the breadth of their habitats and ecological niches, and the diversity of their morphological and life‐history traits. Here, we review the distribution, ecology, morphology and life history of skinks, a diverse lineage of terrestrial vertebrates. We compared key traits between the three subfamilies of skinks, and between skinks and non‐scincid lizards. There are currently 1743 described species of skink, which represent 24% of global lizard diversity. Since 2010, 16% of lizard descriptions have been of skinks. The centres of skink diversity are in Australia, New Guinea, southeast Asia, Oceania, Madagascar and central Africa. Compared with non‐scincid lizards, skinks have larger distributional ranges, but smaller body sizes. Sexual size dimorphism is rare in skinks. Almost a quarter (23%) of skinks exhibit limb reduction or loss, compared with just 3% of non‐scincid lizards. Skinks are more likely to be viviparous (34% of species) compared with non‐scincids (13%), and have higher clutch/litter sizes than non‐scincids. Although skinks mature later than non‐scincids, their longevity is similar to that exhibited by other lizard groups. Most skinks (88%) are active foragers, and they are more likely to be carnivorous than non‐scincids. Skinks are more likely to be diurnal or cathemeral than other lizard groups, but they generally have lower field body temperatures compared with non‐scincids. The success of skinks appears to be both a result of them hitting upon a winning body plan and ecology, and their capacity to regularly deviate from this body plan and adapt their ecology and life history (e.g. repeated limb reduction and loss, transitions to viviparity) to prevailing conditions.

show abstract

Section: Skinks: a Diverse And Rapidly Growing Reptile Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Skinks: a Diverse And Rapidly Growing Reptile Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Built for success: Distribution, morphology, ecology and life history of the world's skinks

Chapple,

Slavenko,

Tingley

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, regarding animals, while some groups also display a remarkable diversity and a high rate of endemism (e.g. Squamata ; Bernstein et al (2021) , Slavenko et al (2023) ), others, such as bees, appear remarkably poor, illustrating a convincing example of island disharmony ( Vargas 2012 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) of New Caledonia

Zakardjian,

Jourdan,

Cochenille

et al. 2023

BDJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In a world where insects and notably bees are declining, assessing their distribution over time and space is crucial to evaluate species status and highlight conservation priorities. However, this can be a daunting task, especially in areas such as tropical oceanic islands where exhaustive samplings over time have been lacking. This is the case in New Caledonia, an archipelago located in the southwest Pacific. Historical records of bee species are piecemeal and, although contemporary samplings have significantly advanced our knowledge of the bee fauna of New Caledonia, the status of several species remains to be elucidated. Here, we provide an updated checklist of the 51 bee species recorded for New Caledonia using previous publications and personal samplings. We documented their distribution, origin (i.e. endemic, native or alien) and the year and location of their occurrences. Based on the year of their first capture and the year of their last capture, we determined an occurrence status for each species. Thus, 10 years after the last checklist of the New Caledonian bee fauna, the literature review and recent samplings allowed us to add six new species to the list. Half of them are recently introduced species including one firstly mentioned in this paper (i.e. Hylaeus albonitens). We consider here that 30 species are effectively present on the territory and the presence of 21 species could not be determined due to a lack of data, which highlights the need to increase sampling efforts across New Caledonia. Given the difficulty of exhaustively sampling the entire archipelago, we would recommend taking, as a starting point, altitude environments and areas where data-deficient species were captured. In a broader perspective, biomolecular analyses are crucial to confirm species identifications. This is also needed to make comparisons between archipelagoes and thus clarify the distribution and status of species at the scale of the southwest Pacific.

show abstract

Gold in the mountains: Striking new species of Papuascincus (Sphenomorphini: Scincidae) from New Guinea

Slavenko,

Richards,

Donnellan

et al. 2024

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Skinks are the most diverse component of the reptile fauna in the mountains of New Guinea and many seemingly specialised high-elevation species remain undescribed. Here we describe two spectacular new gold-patterned skinks in the montane-specialist genus Papuascincus. Both species can be diagnosed from all congeners by their distinctive colouration, in addition to aspects of scalation and body size. One new species is mainly recorded from lower montane forest in karst habitats spanning more than five hundred kilometres along the southern edge of New Guinea’s Central Cordillera and is likely to warrant an IUCN conservation status of Least Concern. The second new species has thus far only been recorded from cloud forest on the summit of Mt. Menawa in the North Coastal Ranges and we suggest it should be considered Data Deficient. However, if further survey work confirms a restricted distribution with little scope for upslope elevational retreat under future warming climates it will likely qualify for Endangered or Critically Endangered status.

show abstract

Skinks of Oceania, New Guinea, and Eastern Wallacea: an underexplored biodiversity hotspot

Cited by 4 publications

References 116 publications

Built for success: Distribution, morphology, ecology and life history of the world's skinks

Built for success: Distribution, morphology, ecology and life history of the world's skinks

Checklist of the bees (Hymenoptera, Apoidea) of New Caledonia

Gold in the mountains: Striking new species of Papuascincus (Sphenomorphini: Scincidae) from New Guinea

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About