Carlia wundalthini HOSKIN, 2014

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Higher Taxa	Scincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Cape Melville Rainbow Skink
Synonym	Carlia wundalthini HOSKIN 2014
Distribution	Australia (NE Queensland) Type locality: Melville Range (14°16'33" S, 144°29'32" E, elevation 460 m elevation), Cape Melville, north-east Queensland, Australia.
Reproduction
Types	Holotype: QM J93342 (field number N86248), adult male, C. J. Hoskin & H. B. Hines, 13 December 2013. Paratypes. QM J93343 (field number N86249), adult male; QM J93344 (field number N86250), adult male; QM J93345 (field number N86252), adult male; QM J93346 (field number N86258), adult male; QM J93347 (field number N86261), adult female; collection details as for holotype. QM J92563, adult, probable female; QM J92564, subadult; QM J92565, subadult; QM J92566, subadult; QM J92575, adult, probable female; QM J92576, subadult; Melville Range (14°16'38" S, 144°29'28" E, elevation 500 m a.s.l.), Cape Melville, north-east Queensland, C. J. Hoskin, 20 March 2013.
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: Distinguished from congeners by combination of interparietal fused with frontoparietal, smooth dorsal scales, small–medium size (max SVL to about 49 mm), male breeding colour consisting of orange flush down side of neck and flank and pale chin and throat (Figs 1C, 2, 3 in Hoskin 2014), round to horizontally elongate ear opening with sharp triangular lobule at front of ear and similar sharp lobules at least across the top of ear and often around entire margin (Figs 1C, 2, 4A).
Comment	Habitat: upland rainforest. Individuals were found during the day active on the surface of leaf-litter or basking in small sun-patches. When disturbed the skinks hid under the leaf-litter or retreated to tangles of fallen branches or rock crevices. Distribution: see map in Singhal et al. 2018. Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017).
Etymology	Wundalthini was the name of Charlie Monaghan, a Traditional Owner who was born in the Cape Melville area and who passed on much of the knowledge and responsibility for that country to the current generation of its Traditional Owners. The species was named by the bubu gudjin of Cape Melville, the Traditional Owners who have the responsibility to speak for the land where the species lives.
References	Couper, P., Covacevich, J., Amey, A. & Baker, A. 2006. The genera of skinks (Family Scincidae) of Australia and its island territories: diversity, distribution and identification. in: Merrick, J.R., Archer, M., Hickey, G.M. & Lee, M.S.Y. (eds.). Evolution and Zoogeography of Australasian Vertebrates. Australian Scientific Publishing, Sydney, pp. 367-384 HOSKIN, CONRAD J. 2014. A new skink (Scincidae: Carlia) from the rainforest uplands of Cape Melville, north-east Australia. Zootaxa 3869 (3): 224–236 - get paper here Meiri, Shai; Aaron M. Bauer, Allen Allison, Fernando Castro-Herrera, Laurent Chirio, Guarino Colli, Indraneil Das, Tiffany M. Doan, Frank Glaw, Lee L. Grismer, Marinus Hoogmoed, Fred Kraus, Matthew LeBreton, Danny Meirte, Zoltán T. Nagy, Cristiano d 2017. Extinct, obscure or imaginary: the lizard species with the smallest ranges. Diversity and Distributions - get paper here Singhal, Sonal; Conrad J Hoskin, Patrick Couper, Sally Potter, Craig Moritz 2018. A framework for resolving cryptic species: a case study from the lizards of the Australian Wet Tropics. Systematic Biology, syy026 - get paper here Singhal, Sonal; Huateng Huang, Maggie R. Grundler, María R. Marchán-Rivadeneira, Iris Holmes, Pascal O. Title, Stephen C. Donnellan, and Daniel L. Rabosky 2018. Does Population Structure Predict the Rate of Speciation? A Comparative Test across Australia’s Most Diverse Vertebrate Radiation. The American Naturalist - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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