Phasmasaurus maruia (SADLIER, WHITAKER & BAUER, 1998)

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Higher Taxa	Scincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names
Synonym	Lioscincus maruia SADLIER, WHITAKER & BAUER 1998: 335 Phasmasaurus maruia —SADLIER et al. 2015 Phasmasaurus maruia — SLAVENKO et al. 2025
Distribution	New Caledonia Type locality: Mé Adéo, Neoua area, New Caledonia.
Reproduction	oviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022)
Types	Holotype: AMS (AM) R149897, adult female; paratypes: AMS, MNHN
Diagnosis	DIAGNOSIS: Lioscincus maruia is distinguished from the other species in the genus by the following combination of characters: (1) frontoparietals fused; (2) body scales weakly keeled; (3) midbody scale rows 38-40; (4) paravertebral scale rows 80-89; (5) lamellae under the fourth toe 35-41; (6) tail approximately 2.5 times longer than body. One of the most distinctive features of L. maruia is its exceptionally long tail and keeled body scales. These two characters alone distinguish it from all other New Caledonian skinks with the exception of L. tillieri and the species of Tropidoscincus. (Sadlier et al. 1998) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 5698 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment
References	Bauer, A. M. & SADLIER, R. A. 2000. The herpetofauna of New Caledonia. Contributions to Herpetology, 17; Society for Study Amphibians and Reptiles, Ithaca, New York. Sadlier, R.A.; Whitaker,A.H. & Bauer,A.M. 1998. Lioscincus maruia, a new species of lizard (Reptilia: Scincidae) from New Caledonia, Southwest Pacific. Pacific Science 52 (4): 334-341 Sadlier, Ross A., A. M. BAueR, Glenn M. Shea, and S. A. SMith. 2015. Taxonomic resolution to the problem of polyphyly in the New Caledonian scincid lizard genus Lioscincus (Squamata: Scincidae). Records of the Australian Museum 67(7): 207–224 - get paper here Slavenko, Alex; Allex Allison, Christopher Austin, Aaron Bauer, Rafe Brown, Robert Fisher, Ivan Ineich, Bulisa Iova, Benjamin Karin, Fred Kraus, Mark O’Shea, Sven Mecke, Shai Meiri, Clare Morrison, Paul Oliver, Jonathan Richmond, Glenn Shea, Oliver T 2022. Skinks of Oceania, New Guinea, and Eastern Wallacea: an underexplored biodiversity hotspot. Pacific Conservation Biology 29 (6): 526-543 - get paper here Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information https://endemia.nc/en/faune/fiche1064 Google images

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