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Emoia nigra (JACQUINOT & GUICHENOT, 1853)

IUCN Red List - Emoia nigra - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Black Emo Skink 
SynonymEumeces niger JACQUINOT & GUICHENOT in HOMBRON & JACQUINOT 1853: plate 4
Emoa nigrita GIRARD 1857
Lygosoma nigrum — BOULENGER 1887
Lygosoma nigrum — BOULENGER 1897: 307
Lygosoma (Emoa) nigrum — STERNFELD 1918: 415
Emoia whitneyi BURT 1930
Emoia whitneyi — BURT & BURT 1932
Emoia nigra — GREER 1974: 20
Emoia nigra — MYS 1988: 136
Emoia nigra — ADLER, AUSTIN & DUDLEY 1995
Emoia nigra — BROWN 1991: 57 
DistributionSolomon Islands, Vanuatu, eastward through Fiji to Tonga and Western Samoa, Toga, Loh, Tegua, Hiu Islands.
Papua New Guinea (Bougainville, Bismarcks); Vanuatu: Torres and Banks groups, Santo, Malo, Aore, Aoba, Maewo, Pentecost, Efate

Type locality: not recorded.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: lost, formerly MNHN, fide Brygoo 1985, McCoy 2006, Shea et al. 2021. Not found by Ineich, pers. comm., March 2019.
Holotype: USNM 5631 [Emoia nigrita] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1573 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentConservation: Emoia nigra has been exterminated on the Fiji main islands
(Vanua Levu and Viti Levu) by mongoose predation.

Synonymy: a type catalogue of the SMF lists Eumeces niger Hombron & Jaequinot, 1853 and some other synonyms of Emoia nigra as synonyms of Lamprolepis smaragdina melas or Lamprolepis smaragdina smaragdina.

Publication date not verified but see Clark & Crosnier 2000 for details. An illustration of the species (as “Eumèces nègre”) was published in 1842. However, the written description was only published in 1853. 
EtymologyNamed after the very dark or black color of some (but not all) specimens. 
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
  • Boulenger, G. A. 1897. On the reptiles of Rotuma Island, Polynesia. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) 20: 306-307 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1886. On the reptiles and batrachians of the Solomon Islands. Trans. Zool. Soc. London 12: 35-62
  • Brown W C 1991. Lizards of the genus Emoia (Scincidae) with observations on their evolution and biogeography. MEMOIRS OF THE CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (No. 15) 1991: i-vi, 1-94 - get paper here
  • Burt, Charles E.; Burt, May Danheim 1932. Herpetological results of the Whitney South Sea Expedition. VI. Pacific island amphibians and reptiles in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 63 (5): 461-597 - get paper here
  • CLARK, PAUL F.; ALAIN CROSNIER 2000. The zoology of the Voyage au pole sud et dans l'Océanie sur les corvettes I'Astrolabe et la Zélée exécuté par ordre du roi pendant les années 1837-1838 -1839-1840 sous le commandement de M. Dumont- d'Urville (1842-1854): titles, volumes, plates Archives of Natural History 27 (3): 407-35 - get paper here
  • Gill B J. 1993. The Land Reptiles of Western Samoa. Journal of the Royal Society Of New Zealand 23 (2): 79-89. - get paper here
  • Girard, C. 1858. Descriptions of some new Reptiles, collected by the US. Exploring Expedition under the command of Capt. Charles Wilkes, U.S.N. Fourth Part. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci Philadelphia 1857: 195-199 - get paper here
  • Ineich, I. 2009. The terrestrial herpetofauna of Torres and Banks Groups (northern Vanuatu), with report of a new species for Vanuatu. Zootaxa 2198: 1-15 - get paper here
  • Ineich, I. 2011. Amphibians and reptiles. In: Bouchet P., Le Guyader H. & PascaL O. (eds), The Natural History of Santo. pp. 187-236. MNhN, Paris; Ird, Marseille; PNI, Paris. 572 pp. (Patrimoines naturels; 70). - get paper here
  • Jacquinot, H. & Guichenot, A. 1853. Reptiles et poissons. In: HOMBRON & JACQUINOT, Zoologie 3, in: Dumont d’Urville, Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l’Océanie sur les corvettes l’Astrolabe et la Zélée, ... Gide & J. Baudry, Paris, 56 pp. [According to Sherborn & Woodward (1901), the text is dated as 1846-1854; but Plate 2 of the Sauriens appeared in 1842 fide Clark & Crosnier 2000] - get paper here
  • Lord Medway, & Marshall, A.G. 1975. Terrestrial vertebrates of the New Hebrides: origin and distribution. Roy. Soc. of London, Philosophical Trans. (Ser. B) 272: 423-465. - get paper here
  • McCoy, M. 2006. Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. Pensoft Series Faunistica 57, 212 pp.
  • McCoy, M. 2015. A Field Guide to the Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. Michael McCoy, Kuranda - get paper here
  • Morrison, C. 2003. A Field Guide to the Herpetofauna of Fiji. Suva, Fiji: Institute of Applied Sciences, University of the South Pacific, 121 pp.
  • Mys, Benoit 1988. The zoogeography of the scincid lizards from North Papua New Guinea (Reptilia: Scincidae). I. The distribution of the species. Bull. Inst. Roy. Sci. Nat. Belgique (Biologie) 58: 127-183
  • Schwaner, T. D. 1980. Reproductive Biology of lizards on the American Samoa Islands. Occ. Pap. Mus. Nat. Hist. Univ. Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas (86): 1-53
  • SHEA, GLENN M.; ROBERT N. FISHER & IVAN INEICH 2021. Case 3853 – Eumeces niger Hombron & Jacquinot, 1853 (currently Emoia nigra) (Reptilia, Scincidae): proposed conservation of prevailing usage by setting aside a lectotype designation for Gongylus (Eumeces) freycineti Duméril & Bibron, 1839 (currently The Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 78(3): 201–217. - get paper here
  • Sternfeld, R. 1918. Zur Tiergeographie Papuasiens und der pazifischen Inselwelt. Abh. senckenb. naturf. Ges. (Frankfurt) 36: 375-436 [missing from BHL in 2023]
  • Werner, F. 1899. Beiträge zur Herpetologie der pacifischen Inselwelt und von Kleinasien. I. Bemerkungen über einige Reptilien aus Neu-Guinea und Polynesien. II. Über einige Reptilien und Batrachier aus Kleinasien. Zool. Anz. 22: 371-375, 375-378 - get paper here
  • Zug, G. R., I. Ineich, G. Pregill, and A. M. Hamilton. 2012. Lizards of Tonga and a description of a new Tongan treeskink (Squamata: Scincidae: Emoia samoensis Group). Pacific Science 66(2):225-237 - get paper here
  • Zug, G.R. 1985. Pacific Island Lizards: Status of Type Specimens from the US Exploring Expedition 1838-1842 Copeia 1985 (1): 150-154. - get paper here
  • ZUG, G.R. 2013. Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands. University of California Press, Berkeley, 306 pp. - get paper here
  • Zug, G.R. & I. Ineich 1995. A new skink (Emoia: Lacertilia: Reptilia) from the forest of Fiji. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 108 (3): 395-400. - get paper here
  • Zug,G. R. 1991. The lizards of Fiji: Natural history and systematics. Bishop Mus. Bull. Zool. 2: 1-136
 
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