Oligosoma aureocola KNOX, PATTERSON & CHAPPLE, 2023
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Oligosoma aureocola
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | |
| Synonym | Oligosoma aureocola KNOX, PATTERSON & CHAPPLE 2023: 275 |
| Distribution | New Zealand (northern Southland) Type locality: Mataura Range (45° 39’S, 168° 35’E), 950m elevation. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype. NMNZ RE008659 (female) (coll. C. Knox, 16 Mar 2022). Paratypes. Mataura Range (45o 39’S, 168o 35’E), NMNZ RE008661 (female) (coll. C. Knox, 16 Mar 2022); Mataura Range (45o 39’S, 168o 35’E), NMNZ RE008660 (female) (coll. C. Knox, 16 Mar 2022). |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis. This species can be separated from O. repens by several features, summarised in Table 3. Relative ear size in particular is a reliable taxonomic character in other New Zealand skinks (eg Patterson et al., 2013). Other similar species it may be sympatric with are O. inconspicuum (Patterson & Daugherty), O. aff. polychroma Clade 5 Liggins et al., and O. maccanni (Patterson & Daugherty). It can be separated from both O. maccanni and O. inconspicuum by the presence of 3 supraoculars compared with 4 supraoculars in O. maccanni and O. inconspicuum. Furthermore, O. maccani has grey or grey-brown dorsal colouration versus brighter brown colouration and O. aureocola sp. nov. has smoother, and brighter dorso-lateral and mid-lateral stripes along the sides compared with O. maccanni. O. inconspicuum usually has prominent black flecking on its dorsal surface and head; versus no or little black-flecking in O. aureocola sp. nov. Liggins et al. (2008a) provided few characters that can be used to reliably separate O. aff. polychroma Clade 5 from O. aureocola sp. nov. in the field. Thus, for purposes of comparison 13 O. polychroma specimens in the Te Papa collection were examined for this study. There is no overlap between VS (64–74 in O. aff. polychroma Clade 5 compared with 80–84 in O. aureocola sp. nov.); 2nd loreal usually touches 2nd supralabial only in O. aff. polychroma Clade 5, compared with 1st and 2nd, or 2nd and 3rd in O. aureocola sp. nov.; HL/HW always >1.55 in O. aff. polychroma Clade 5, but always <1.55 in O. aureocola sp. nov. Many O. aff. polychroma Clade 5 specimens from the south of the South Island have 3 supraoculars and so this feature cannot be reliably used to separate the species, although O. aff. polychroma Clade 5 usually has 4 supraoculars, whereas O. aureocola sp. nov always has 3 supraoculars. (Knox et al. 2023) |
| Comment | |
| Etymology | Oligosoma aureocola in reference to the skinks’ frequent use of golden speargrass (Aciphylla aurea). Epithets ending in -cola stand for “inhabitant of”. These epithets can be in the masculine or feminine gender and are used as a nominative in apposition. Accordingly, their gender does not reflect the gender of the genus name (which is neuter). A. aurea is found throughout the South Island of New Zealand, usually in mountainous areas. Individual plants of A. aurea may be up to 100 cm tall and consist of sharp spiky yellowish-green leaves which make a good shelter for lizards. Vernacular name ‘Mataura skink’ refers to the Mataura Range where the species was first found, as well as the Mataura River, which abuts to the north of the prominent peak Mid Dome, where the species was subsequently found in February 2022. |
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