Oligosoma infrapunctatum (BOULENGER, 1887)
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Oligosoma infrapunctatum
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Eugongylinae (Eugongylini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Boulenger’s speckled skink, Cobble skink, Speckled Skink |
| Synonym | Lygosoma infrapunctatum BOULENGER 1887: 274 Lygosoma (Leiolopisma) infrapunctatum — SMITH 1937: 224 Leiolopisma infrapunctata — MITTLEMAN 1952 Leiolopisma infrapunctatum — MCCANN 1955 Leiolopisma infrapunctatum — GREER 1974: 16 Leiolopisma infrapunctatum — GUNDY & WURST 1976 Leiolopisma infrapunctatum — WHITAKER 1976 Leiolopisma infrapunctatum — HARDY 1977 Oligosoma infrapunctatum — WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985 Oligosoma newmani WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985 (Stephens Is) Oligosoma robinsoni WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985 (Whale Is) Oligosoma infrapunctatum — PATTERSON & DAUGHERTY 1995 Oligosoma infrapunctatum — HICKSON et al. 2000 Oligosoma infrapunctatum — HITCHMOUGH et al. 2016 Oligosoma aff. infrapunctatum — JEWELL 2017 Oligosoma infrapunctatum — MELZER et al. 2019: 453 |
| Distribution | New Zealand, North Island (Waikato, Wellington), Stephen Is, South Island (Nelson, Westland) Type locality: unknown, but McCann (1955) assumed Stephens Island (Takapourewa) to be the type locality, but that remains unknown. |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Holotype: BMNH 1946.8.16.12, purchased off G. Krefft (sic), date and locality unknown |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: The specimen’s characteristics clearly distinguish it as a member of Oligosoma (Patterson & Daugherty 1995). The specimen is similar to many of the species described in the current paper in overall proportions, scalation and colouration, particularly the ventral speckling. This, and the distinguishing features presented above which exclude other superficially similar species confirm that it is a member of the group of species discussed here as the O. infrapunctatum complex. It can be distinguished from other members of the infrapunctatum complex by the following characters (Figure 4a–j and abbreviations following Melzer et al. 2019): S-Ear/EF (O. infrapunctatum 0.8; O. robinsoni 0.9–1.2; O. salmo sp. nov.1–1.2), MS (O. infrapunctatum 34; O. auroraensis sp. nov. 30–32), VS (O. infrapunctatum 83; O. albornense sp. nov. 65–68; O. salmo sp. nov. 59–69), upper ciliaries (O. infrapunctatum 7; O. albornense sp. nov. 5–6), supraciliaries (O. infrapunctatum 6; O. salmo sp. nov. 5), supralabial count (O. infrapunctatum 8; O. auroraensis sp. nov. 7; O. salmo sp. nov. 7), SVL/HLL (O. infrapunctatum 2.8; O. salmo sp. nov. 3–4.3). The boxplots also show statistically significant differences between O. infrapunctatum and all the other species in this paper. The AG/SF and SVL/FTL values for O. infrapunctatum are unlikely to have arisen from the distribution of values of O. newmani and O. salmo. The subdigital lamella count is unlikely to have arisen from the distribution of values of any of the other species in this paper, except O. auroraensis. Similarly, for SVL/ HLL, where the only species with a possibly comparable distribution is O. auroraensis. The S-Ear/EF value for O. infrapunctatum is unlikely to have arisen from the distribution of values of any of the other species in this paper. O. infrapunctatum also has a scale between the prefrontals that is not found in any of the other species in this paper. The O. infrapunctatum type shows some similarity to the undescribed Hokitika population of Clade 2a; they share the additional scale between the pre-frontals and a tendency for the ventral spots to be arranged in longitudinal rows; both features not seen in other members of the complex described here. However, they differ considerably in ventral scale counts (mean of 74 vs 83 in O. infrapunctatum), AG/SF (mean of 1.6 vs 1.3 in O. infrapunctatum) and in having 7 supralabials vs 8 in O. infrapunctatum. Similar differences (including the lack of a scale between the prefrontals) exist between other undescribed taxa in the Greaves et al. (2008) paper and this specimen. |
| Comment | Distribution: SMITH 1937 mentioned infrapunctatum as from Western Australia. JEWELL (2008) recognises four species previously assigned to O. infrapunctatum: Cobble skink Oligosoma sp. 9 (p. 94; not previously recognised), Crenulate skink Oligosoma sp. 10 (p. 96; = clade 2), Paparoa skink Oligosoma sp. 11 (p. 97), and Hitchmough 2009 for more discussion. Conservation: Some populations critically threatened (Hitchmough et al. 2016) but see Melzer et al. 2019 for a discussion of each population. Oligosoma infrapunctatum is at least seriously threatened, if not extinct. Abundance: Rare. This is one of the species called 'lost' and 'rediscovered' by Lindken et al. 2024. |
| Etymology | The Latin name means ‘spotted below’. |
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