Plestiodon kuchinoshimensis KURITA & HIKIDA, 2014
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Plestiodon kuchinoshimensis
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | Japanese: Kuchinoshima-Tokage |
| Synonym | Plestiodon kuchinoshimensis KURITA & HIKIDA 2014 Eumeces latiscutatus — MORITA 1989: 18 Eumeces latiscutatus — MORITA, 1991: 169 Eumeces latiscutatus — HIKIDA et al., 1992: 36 (part) Eumeces latiscutatus — KATO et al., 1994: 491 (part) Eumeces latiscutatus — OTA 2000: 64 (part) Eumeces latiscutatus — MOTOKAWA & HIKIDA 2003: 97 (part) Eumeces marginatus — OTA et al., 1994: 169 Eumeces marginatus — HIKIDA, 1996: 80 (part) Eumeces marginatus — OTA 2003: 103. Plestiodon marginatus — MAENOSONO & TODA 2007: 33 Plestiodon marginatus — KURITA & HIKIDA 2014 (part). Plestiodon marginatus marginatus — OTANI 2009: 202 (part) |
| Distribution | Japan (Kuchinoshima Island) Type locality: Kuchinoshima Island, Toshima Village, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan (29°59′12.0′′N, 129°55′14.4′′E, elevation 67 m) |
| Reproduction | oviparous (phylogenetic imputation, fide Zimin et al. 2022) |
| Types | Holotype: KUZ R66803, a subadult male collected on 23 July 2010 by Kazuki Kurita. Paratypes: Twenty-nine specimens, all from Kuchinoshima Island: KUZ R8366–8373, three adult and two yearling males, and three yearling females collected on 25 April 1987 by T. Hikida; KUZ R28916–17, 28563–64, 28570, two adult males, and one adult and two subadult females collected on August 1991 by M. Toyama, S. Iwanaga, and N. Takeda; KUZ R 66800–02, 66804–07, two adult and two subadult males, and one adult and two subadult females collected on 23 July 2010 by K. Kurita; KUZ R68669–72 and 68674, two hatching males, and one adult and two hatchling females collected on 23 August 2011 by K. Kurita; KUZ R68673, 68675–77, one adult, one subadult, and one hatchling males, and one subadult female collected on 24 August 2011 by K. Kurita. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: Plestiodon kuchinoshimensis is assigned to the P. latiscutatus species group (sensu Hikida, 1993) based on the presence of a fan-shaped upper secondary temporal scale with emarginated posterior margin and keeled postanal scales. This species differs from P. latiscutatus Hallowell, 1861, P. finitimus Okamoto and Hikida, 2012, and P. japonicus by the absence of PN (vs. PN usually present in P. latiscutatus, P. finitimus, and P. japonicus), from P. barbouri by having a larger number of MSR (range = 27–32, mean ± SD = 29.9 ± 0.8, n = 30 in P. kuchinoshimensis vs. 22–24 in P. barbouri), and from P. elegans by the absence of EISPF (vs. EISPF present in P. elegans). This species differs from P. stimpsonii by having five longitudinal light lines on the dorsal surface of hatchling (vs. seven lines on that of juvenile stage in P. stimpsonii, except for the Haterumajima Island population [five lines on most individu- als from Haterumajima Island]), LL passing thorough ear and the sixth to the eighth scale rows (vs. above ear and fifth scale row in P. stimpsonii), and by having a larger num- ber of MSR (vs. 24–28 in P. stimpsonii). This species mor- phologically most closely resembles P. oshimensis and P. marginatus, but it can be distinguished from both of the lat- ter species, and also from P. elegans and P. stimpsonii, by DLL beginning from behind SuO (vs. on the first SuO in P. oshimensis, and on the first SuC in P. marginatus, P. elegans, and P. stimpsonii: Fig. 4), and by having brownish background on the dorsal surface of the juvenile (vs. black- ish background on that of these four species: Fig. 4). |
| Comment | Synonymy after KURITA & HIKIDA 2014: 467. Similar species: Plestiodon marginatus, P. latiscutatus. Abundance: only known from its original description (Meiri et al. 2017). |
| Etymology | The specific name is an adjective, derived from Kuchinoshima Island, where this species occurs endemically. |
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