Carlia rhomboidalis (PETERS, 1869)
Can you confirm these amateur observations of Carlia rhomboidalis?
Carlia rhomboidalis
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Blue-throated Rainbow-skink |
| Synonym | Heteropus rhomboidalis PETERS 1869: 446 Lygosoma (Leiolopisma) rhomboidale — SMITH 1937: 225 Leiolopisma rhomboidale (PETERS) — BARBOUR 1912: 187 Leiolopisma rhomboidalis — WILHOFT 1961 Carlia rhomboidalis — COGGER 1983 Carlia rhomboidalis — COGGER 2000: 396 Carlia rhomboidalis — DOLMAN & HUGALL 2008 |
| Distribution | Australia (Queensland) Type locality: “Port Mackay in N.O. Australien” [Queensland]. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Lectotype: ZMB 6509a (designated by INGRAM & COVACEVICH 1989). An earlier designation of BMNH 1946.8.16.57 by Wells &Wellington (1985) is likely to be invalid, as there is no evidence that this was one of the specimens used by Peters to describe the species. BMNH 1946.8.16.57 was obtained from the Godeffroy Museum, which independently sold off duplicate specimens to other collections. It is likely that some of the duplicates went to Berlin, where Peters described the species, and others went to London, without being seen by Peters (Bauer et al. 2003, Glenn Shea, pers. comm., Feb 2019). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Carlia rubrigularis and C. rhomboidalis can be distinguished from all other Carlia in having the interparietal scale fused with the frontoparietal (Ingram & Covacevich 1989; Hoskin & Couper 2012). Carlia rubrigularis was split from C. rhomboidalis in 1989 on the basis of colouration, particularly of breeding males (Ingram & Covacevich 1989). In C. rhomboidalis the labials and underside of the head are blue and the throat is red (Fig. 1A), whereas in C. rubrigularis the entire lower surfaces of the head (termed here the ‘chin’) and throat are red (Fig. 1B). This colour difference in breeding males was deemed probably sufficient to confer breeding isolation should the species come into contact (Ingram & Covacevich 1989). Indeed, lab-tests of female choice have detected prezygotic isolation between these two species (Dolman 2008). Ingram & Covacevich (1989) concluded that the two species were morphologically indistinguishable other than for chin colour; however, Dolman (2008) also found subtle differences in relative limb length and head width (Hoskin 2014). |
| Comment | Synonymy: Leiolopisma rhomboidale is probably synonymous to Carlia rhomboidalis. However, the former is listed by Barbour (1912: 187) to occur on “Papua New Guinea (Dutch)”, so Barbour’s rhomboidale may also represent a different species. Illustration in Schmida (2000). Distribution: see map in Singhal et al. 2018. |
| Etymology | Presumably named after the Latin rhombus (rhombus or diamond), referring to the fusion of the interparietal to the frontoparietals to produce a diamond-shaped scale between the frontal and parietals. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024) |
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