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Phoboscincus bocourti (BROCCHI, 1876)

IUCN Red List - Phoboscincus bocourti - Endangered, EN
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Bocourt’s terrific Skink, Bocourt's Eyelid Skink 
SynonymEumeces Bocourti BROCCHI 1876
Phoboscincus bocourti — GREER 1974
Phoboscincus bocourti — SADLIER 1987
Eumeces bocourti — FRANK & RAMUS 1995
Phoboscincus bocourti — ADLER, AUSTIN & DUDLEY 1995
Phoboscincus bocourti — BAUER & SADLIER 2000
Phoboscincus bocourti — LIVIGNI 2013: 313
Phoboscincus bocourti — CHAPPLE et al. 2023 
DistributionNew Caledonia (small islet south of Grande Terre, off Isle of Pines)

Type locality: “Nouvelle-Calédonie”.  
Reproduction 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 3029 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): “Large (SVL up to 280 mm), terrestrial skinks with supranasals, scaly lower eyelids, fuse frontoparietals, and sharply pointed, recurved fang-like teeth in the anterior part of both the upper and lower jaws.” (GREER 1974: 15). 
CommentBoulenger (1883) described Eumeces Bocourtii from Mexico.

Conservation: Has been considered extinct because no specimens have been found between 1872 and 13 (BAUER & SADLIER 13) but about 10 specimens have been found by Ineich (200) and Caut et al. 2013.

Type Species: Eumeces bocourti is the type species of the genus Phoboscincus GREER 1974.

Synonymy: Böhme (1976) synonymised Phoboscincus with Eugongylus but Phoboscincus is clearly unrelated to Eugongylus (Chapple et al. 2023).

Abundance: Rare. This is one of the species called 'lost' and 'rediscovered' by Lindken et al. 2024.

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyThe species was named after Marie Firmin Bocourt (1819-1904), French naturalist.

The genus name Phoboscincus combines the Greek noun for 'fear' (Phobos) with the Latin noun for 'skink' (scincus) to give a name that should emphasize the awe-inspiring aspect imparted to these skinks by their large size and sharply pointed teeth (Greer 1974). 
References
  • Adler,G.H.; Austin,C.C. & Dudley,R. 1995. Dispersal and speciation of skinks among archipelagos in the tropical Pacific Ocean. Evolutionary Ecology 9: 529-541 - get paper here
  • 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.
  • Bauer, A.M. & Sadlier,R.A. 1993. Systematics, biogeography and conservation of the lizards of New Caledonia. Biodiv. Lett. 1: 107-122 - get paper here
  • Bauer, Aaron M.;Vindum, Jens V. 1990. A checklist and key to the herpetofauna of New Caledonia, with remarks on biogeography. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 47 (2): 17-45 - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1883. Descriptions of new species of lizards and frogs collected by Herr A. Forrer in Mexico. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (5) 11: 342-344 - get paper here
  • Brocchi, P. [given as M. Brocchi for “Monsieur”] 1876. Sur un Scincoiden nouveau appartenant au genre Eumeces. Bull. Soc. Philomatique de Paris (6) 12: 95-97 - get paper here
  • Caut S, Holden M, Jowers MJ, Boistel R, Ineich I 2013. Is Bocourt’s Terrific Skink Really So Terrific? Trophic Myth and Reality. PLoS One 8 (10): e78638 - get paper here
  • Chapple, D., Chapple, S., Smith, S., Shea, G., Brennan, I., & Sadlier, R. 2023. Phylogenetic relationships in the Eugongylini (Squamata: Scincidae): generic limits and biogeography. Australian Journal of Zoology 70(6): 165–203 - get paper here
  • Greer, A.E. 1974. The generic relationships of the scincid lizard genus Leiolopisma and its relatives. Australian Journal of Zoology 31: 1-67. - get paper here
  • Ineich I 2009. Bocourt’s Terrific Skink, Phoboscincus bocourti Brocchi, 1876 (Squamata, Scincidae, Lygosominae), in GraNdCoLaS P. (ed.), Zoologia Neocaledonica 7. Biodiversity studies in New Caledonia. Mémoires du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle 198: 149-174. Paris, ISBN: <br />978-2-85653-618-6.
  • INEICH, Ivan; Ross A. SADLIER, Aaron M. BAUER, Todd R. JACKMAN & Sarah A. SMITH 2014. Bocourt’s terrific Skink, Phoboscincus bocourti (Brocchi, 1876), and the Monophyly of the Genus Phoboscincus Greer, 1974 (Reptilia: Scincidae). Memoires du Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 206: 69-78
  • Lindken T.; Anderson, C. V., Ariano-Sánchez, D., Barki, G., Biggs, C., Bowles, P., Chaitanya, R., Cronin, D. T., Jähnig, S. C., Jeschke, J. M., Kennerley, R. J., Lacher, T. E. Jr., Luedtke, J. A., Liu, C., Long, B., Mallon, D., Martin, G. M., Meiri, 2024. What factors influence the rediscovery of lost tetrapod species? Global Change Biology, 30: 1-18 - get paper here
  • LiVigni, F. (ed.) 2013. A Life for Reptiles and Amphibians, Volume 1. Chimaira, Frankfurt, 495 pp. - get paper here
  • Shea G M. 1995. A taxonomic revision of the Cyclodomorphus casuarinae complex (Squamata: Scincidae). Rec. Austral. Mus. 47 (1): 83-115. - get paper here
  • Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - get paper here
 
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