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Eugongylus rufescens (SHAW, 1802)

IUCN Red List - Eugongylus rufescens - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Bar-lipped Sheen-skink 
SynonymLacerta rufescens SHAW 1802: 285 (part.)
Scincus aurata SCHNEIDER 1801: 176 (part.)
Eumeces Oppelii DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 656
Mabouia macrura GÜNTHER 1867: 48
Eumeces uniformis MEYER 1874: 133
Eumeces brunneus MACLEAY 1877: 65
Mabuia uniformis — MACLEAY 1877: 65
Euprepes (Tiliqua) cingulatus PETERS & DORIA 1878: 352
Eumeces Oppellii — MÜLLER 1880: 125
Lygosoma (Riopa) rufescens — STERNFELD 1918: 419
Riopa rufescens — BURT & BURT 1932
Riopa rufescens — HEDIGER 1934
Riopa (Eugongylus) rufescens — SMITH 1937: 229
Eugongylus rufescens — GREER 1974: 14
Eugongylus rufescens — BÖHME 1976
Eugongylus rufescens — COGGER 1983: 164
Eugongylus rufescens — MYS 1988: 138
Eugongylus rufescens — COGGER 2000: 480
Lygosoma rufescens
Eugongylus rufescens — WHITING et al. 2003
Eugongylus rufescens — COUPER et al. 2006: 380
Eugongylus rufescens — KOCH 2012: 208
Eugongylus rufescens — JACOBS & SHEA 2022 
DistributionAustralia (Queensland), Admirality Islands, Indonesia (Irian Jaya, Seram, Ambon), Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands [McCoy 2000]

Type locality: see note below.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesTypes: unknown, composite and based, at least in part, on literature records (Aldrovandi, 1637; Seba, 1735); see also Boulenger (1887). Type data: unknown, from "Arabia, Egypt [Seba], and some European islands including Cyprus [Aldrovandi]" (Lacerta rufescens)
Holotype: unknown, from “Surinam” [Scincus aurata]
Syntypes: MNHP 1243, MNHP 2918, from New Guinea [Eumeces oppelii].
Holotype: BMNH 1946.8.13.73, from Cape York, Qld. [Mabouia macrura]
Syntypes: MTD (= MTKD) 242-243, from Mafoor, New Guinea, destroyed fide Obst (1977) [Eumeces uniformis].
Syntypes: AM R31864-6, from Darnley Is., Torres Strait, Qld. [Eumeces brunneus]
Holotype: AM R31867, from Coconut Is., Torres Strait, Qld. [Mabuia uniformis].
Holotype: MSNG 27904, from Mansinam, Irian Jaya, Indonesia [cingulatus]. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Large (snout-vent length up to 288 mm), terrestrial skinks with supranasals, scaly lower eyelids, the frontoparietals and interparietal distinct, and peg-like teeth; clutch size variable, up to 4 (Greer 1974: 14).


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CommentSynonymy and type information mainly after COGGER 1983: Name should be Eugongylus rufescens (SHAW 1802).

Type Species: Eumeces Oppelii = Lacerta rufescens is the type species of the genus Eugongylus FITZINGER 1843 (fide GREER 194: 13). Eugongylus is also the type genus of the family Eugongylidae Hedges & Conn 2012: 28 and of the tribus Eugongylini Welch 1982 (fide Shea 2021).

Original description of Scincus aurata is based in part on specimens from Indo-Australian region; New World syntypes have been referred to Mabuya aurata (Schneider, 1801) and Mabuya sloanii (Daudin, 1802); we are not aware of any lectotype or neotype designation.

Habitat: in forested or partly open areas, in or under moist, decaying stumps and logs.

Distribution: not on Sulawesi fide Shea et al 2021.

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyPresumably named after the Latin rufus (red) plus the suffix -escens (becoming), i.e., reddish. (G. Shea, pers. comm., 9 Feb 2024)

The genus Eugongylus was presumably named after the Greek prefix eu- (well, in the sense of very) plus gongylos (round), likely referring to the cross-sectional shape of body and tail. Gongylus was also used as a generic name for certain skinks, including by Fitzinger (1843). Derivation not stated by Fitzinger (1843). 
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. 1887. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) III. Lacertidae, Gerrhosauridae, Scincidae, Anelytropsidae, Dibamidae, Chamaeleontidae. London: 575 pp. - 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
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Couper, P., Covacevich, J., Amey, A. & Baker, A. 2006. The genera of skinks (Family Scincidae) of Australia and its island territories: diversity, distribution and identification. in: Merrick, J.R., Archer, M., Hickey, G.M. & Lee, M.S.Y. (eds.). Evolution and Zoogeography of Australasian Vertebrates. Australian Scientific Publishing, Sydney, pp. 367-384
  • Duméril, A. M. C. and G. Bibron. 1839. Erpétologie Générale on Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Vol. 5. Roret/Fain et Thunot, Paris, 871 pp. - get paper here
  • Duscha, D. 2003. Was macht die Echse im Gefängnis? Reptilia (Münster) 8 (42): 74-77 - get paper here
  • EDGAR, P. W. & R. P. H. LILLEY 1993. Herpetofauna Survey of Manusela National Park. - In: Natural History of Seram (Malukku, Indonesia), Eds.: I. D. EDWARDS, A. A. MACDONALD & J. PROCTOR. Intercept Ltd., Hampshire, England, 240 S.
  • 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
  • Günther, A. 1867. Additions to the knowledge of Australian reptiles and fishes. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (3) 20: 45-57 - get paper here
  • Hediger, H. 1934. Beitrag zur Herpetologie und Zoogeographie Neu-Britanniens und einiger umliegender Gebiete. Zool. Jahrb. (Syst.) 65: 441-582
  • Jacobs, H. J. and G. M. Shea 2022. Eight weeks in Lobo Bay.The Natuurkundige Commissie on New Guinea in 1828. I. Scincus and Centroplites (Scincidae). Bibliotheca Herpetologica 16(6):48–81 - get paper here
  • Jong, J.K. de 1928. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Reptilienfauna von Niederländisch-Ost-Indien. Treubia 10:145-151 - get paper here
  • Koch, A. 2012. Discovery, Diversity, and Distribution of the Amphibians and Reptiles of Sulawesi and its offshore islands. Edition Chimaira, 374 pp. [ISBN 978-3-89973-432-4] - get paper here
  • Koch, André; Arida, Evy; Riyanto, Awal & Böhme, Wolfgang 2009. Islands between the realms: A revised checklist of the herpetofauna of the Talaud archipelago, Indonesia, with a discussion about its biogeographic affinities. Bonner zoologische Beiträge 56 (1/2): 107-129 [2007] - get paper here
  • Macleay, W. 1877. The lizards of the Chevert Expedition. Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 2: 60-69; 97-104 - get paper here
  • McCoy, M. 2000. Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. ZooGraphics, Kuranda (Australia), CD-ROM.
  • 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
  • Meyer, A.B. 1874. Eine Mittheilung von Hern. Dr. Adolf Berhard Meyer über die von ihm auf Neu-Guinea und den Inseln Jobi, Mysore und Mafoor im Jahre 1873 gesammelten Amphibien. Monatsber. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1874: 128-140 [also published as a separate print with pages 1-17 with a different title in which “Hern. Dr. Adolf Berhard Meyer über die von ihm” is replaced by “mir”] - get paper here
  • Müller, F. 1880. Erster Nachtrag zum Katalog der herpetologischen Sammlung des Basler Museums. Verh. Naturf. Ges. Basel 7: 120-165 - get paper here
  • 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
  • Obst, F. J. 1977. Die herpetologische Sammlung des Staatlichen Museums für Tierkunde Dresden und ihre Typusexemplare. Zool. Abh. Mus. Tierk. Dresden 34: 171-186.
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig and G. Doria. 1878. Catalogo dei retilli e dei batraci raccolti da O. Beccari, L. M. D'Alberts e A. A. Bruijn. nella sotto-regione Austro-Malese. Annali del Museo Civico de Storia Naturale di Genova. ser. 1, 13: 323-450 - get paper here
  • Reeder, T.W. 2003. A phylogeny of the Australian Sphenomorphus group (Scincidae: Squamata) and the phylogenetic placement of the crocodile skinks (Tribolonotus): Bayesian approaches to assessing congruence and obtaining confidence in maximum likelihood inferred relationships. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27: 384–397 - get paper here
  • Roux,J. 1910. Reptilien und Amphibien der Aru- und Kei-Inseln. Abh. senckenb. naturf. Ges. (Frankfurt) 33: 211-247 - get paper here
  • Schneider, JOHANN GOTTLOB 1801. Historiae Amphibiorum naturalis et literariae. Fasciculus secundus continens Crocodilos, Scincos, Chamaesauras, Boas. Pseudoboas, Elapes, Angues. Amphisbaenas et Caecilias. Frommanni, Jena. 374 pp. - get paper here
  • Shaw, G. 1802. General Zoology, or Systematic Natural History. Vol.3, part 2. G. Kearsley, Thomas Davison, London: 313-615 - get paper here
  • SHEA, G. M. 2021. Nomenclature of supra-generic units within the Family Scincidae (Squamata) Zootaxa 5067 (3): 301–351 - get paper here
  • Shea, G., Harlow, P., Tallowin, O., Hamilton, A., Allison, A., Couper, P., Hoskin, C., Amey, A. & Iskandar, D. 2021. Eugongylus rufescens. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T196626A2467942 - get paper here
  • Smith, M.A. 1937. A review of the genus Lygosoma (Scincidae: Reptilia) and its allies. Records of the Indian Museum 39 (3): 213-234
  • Sternfeld, R. 1918. Zur Tiergeographie Papuasiens und der pazifischen Inselwelt. Abh. senckenb. naturf. Ges. (Frankfurt) 36: 375-436 [missing from BHL in 2023]
  • Switak, Karl H. 2006. Adventures in Green Python Country. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 364 pp. - 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
  • Whiting, A.S.; Aaron M. Bauer & Jack W. Sites, Jr. 2003. Phylogenetic relationships and limb loss in sub-Saharan African scincine lizards (Squamata: Scincidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29 (3): 582-598 - get paper here
  • Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2010. A complete guide to reptiles of Australia, 3rd ed. Chatswood: New Holland, 558 pp.
 
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