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Oligosoma maccanni (HARDY, 1977)

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Higher TaxaScincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: McCann??s Skink 
SynonymLeiolopisma nigriplantare maccanni HARDY 1977: 248
Leiolopisma nigriplantare maccanni — HENLE 1981
Leiolopisma maccanni — PATTERSON & DAUGHERTY 1990
Leiolopisma maccanni — PATTERSON & DAUGHERTY 1993
Oligosoma maccanni — PATTERSON & DAUGHERTY 1995
Oligosoma maccanni — HICKSON et al. 2000
Oligosoma maccanni —HITCHMOUGH et al. 2016 
DistributionNew Zealand (South Island: Canterbury, Otago, Southland, S North Island)

Type locality: 30 km W of Ranfurly, 45° 6’ S, 169° 45’ E.  
Reproductionovoviviparous 
TypesHolotype: NMNZ R1799 
Diagnosis 
CommentIn south Otago/Southland Oligosoma maccanni and O. polychroma are clearly distinguishable from each other by three mutually exclusive morphological characters, namely, presence or absence of dorsal stripe to end of tail, number of subdigital lamellae scales on hind foot 4th toe, and number of rows of mid-body scales. However, species-distinguishing characters are less evident in the north of their range. In the vicinity of Alexandra, the presence of chin speckling in O. maccanni and its absence in O. polychroma clearly define the species. In addition, extremes of some character trait ranges remain exclusive to each species. These traits may be considered with chin speckling to strengthen confidence of species identification. No mutually exclusive ranges in morphological traits exist between O. maccanni and O. polychroma from the Canterbury/Marlborough region (from REARDON & TOCHER 2003). 
References
  • Bohlmann, H.; Falkenberg, E.; Knüppel, U. & König, R. 1981. Herpetologische Notizen von der Kykladeninsel Tinos (Griechenland). Herpetofauna 3 (14): 8-13 - get paper here
  • Bourke, S. D., Bennington, S. M., Turner, S., & Monks, J. M. 2025. Ground‐Truthing of MaxEnt Models Reveals Poor Predictive Accuracy for Lizards in the Mackenzie Basin, New Zealand. Ecology and Evolution, 15(9), e72155 - get paper here
  • Cree, Alison and Kelly M. Hare 2010. Equal thermal opportunity does not result in equal gestation length in a cool-climate skink and gecko. Herp. Cons. Biol. 5 (2) - get paper here
  • Cree, Alison and Kelly M. Hare 2016. Reproduction and Life History of New Zealand Lizards. in: Chapple, D.G. (ed). New Zealand Lizards. Springer, pp. 169-206 - get paper here
  • Dehling, J. Maximilian 2022. Neuseelands Herpetofauna – Amphibien und Reptilien vom anderen Ende der Welt. Elaphe 2022 (4): 56-68
  • Hardy, G. 1977. The New Zealand Scincidae: a taxonomic study. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 4: 221-325 - get paper here
  • HICKSON, Robert E.; KERRYN E. SLACK AND PETER LOCKHART 2000. Phylogeny recapitulates geography, or why New Zealand has so many species of skinks. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 70: 415–433 - get paper here
  • Hitchmough, Rodney A.; Geoffrey B. Patterson, and David G. Chapple 2016. Putting a Name to Diversity: Taxonomy of the New Zealand Lizard Fauna. in: Chapple, D.G. (ed). New Zealand Lizards. Springer, pp. 87-108 - get paper here
  • Holmes, K.M. & A. Cree 2006. Annual Reproduction in Females of a Vivparous Skink (Oligosoma maccanni) in a Subalpine Environment Journal of Herpetology 40 (2): 141-151. - get paper here
  • Jones, Christopher; Bell, Trent 2010. Relative effects of toe-clipping and pen-marking on short-term recapture probability of McCann's skinks (Oligosoma maccanni). The Herpetological Journal 20: 237-241 - get paper here
  • Molinia, Frank C.; Trent Bell, Grant Norbury, Alison Cree, and Dianne M. Gleeson 2010. Assisted breeding of skinks or how to teach a lizard old tricks!. Herp. Cons. Biol. 5 (2) - get paper here
  • NORBURY, GRANT; DEBORAH J. WILSON, DEAN CLARKE, ELLA HAYMAN, JAMES SMITH & SIMON HOWARD. 2022. Density-impact functions for invasive house mouse (Mus musculus) effects on indigenous lizards and invertebrates. Biological Invasions 2022: 1–15. - get paper here
  • O’Neill, Shay B.; David G. Chapple, Charles H. Daugherty and Peter A. Ritchie 2008. Phylogeography of two New Zealand lizards: McCann’s skink (Oligosoma maccanni) and the brown skink (O. zelandicum). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 48 (3): 1168-1177 - get paper here
  • Patterson, G.B. and Daugherty, C.H. 1990. Four new species and one new subspecies of skinks, genus Leiolopisma (Reptilia: Lacertilia: Scincidae) from New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 20 (1): 65-84 [erratum p. 252] - get paper here
  • Patterson, G.B. and Daugherty, C.H. 1994. Leiolopisma stenotis, n. sp., (Reptilia: Lacertilia: Scincidae) from Stewart Island, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 24(1): 125-132. - get paper here
  • Patterson, G.B.; Daugherty, C.H. 1995. Reinstatement of the genus Oligosoma (Reptilia: Lacertilia: Scincidae). J. Royal Soc. New Zealand 25 (3): 327-331 - get paper here
  • Purdie, Samuel 2023. Reptile/Invertebrate Survey - Pisa Range. Southern Lakes Sanctuary Trust, New Zealand Department of Conservation - get paper here
  • Reardon, J.T.; Tocher, M.D. 2003. Diagnostic morphometrics of the skink species, Oligosoma maccanni and O. nigriplantare polychroma, from South Island, New Zealand. DOC Science Internal Series 105. Department of Conservation, Wellington. 21 p.
  • Shea, Glenn M. 2016. History of Discovery of the New Zealand Lizard Fauna. in: Chapple, D.G. (ed). New Zealand Lizards. Springer, pp. 13-64 - get paper here
  • Winkel, D. van, Baling, M. & Hitchmough, R. 2018. Reptiles and Amphibians of New Zealand: A field guide. Auckland University Press, Auckland, 376 pp.
 
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