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Sphenomorphus tanneri GREER & PARKER, 1967

IUCN Red List - Sphenomorphus tanneri - Least Concern, LC

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Higher TaxaScincidae, Sphenomorphinae (Sphenomorphini), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Tanner’s Skink 
SynonymSphenomorphus tanneri GREER & PARKER 1967
Sphenomorphus solomonis BURT & BURT 1932 (part.)
Sphenomorphus tanneri — MYS 1988: 147
Sphenomorphus tanneri — ADLER, AUSTIN & DUDLEY 1995 
DistributionSolomon Islands, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago

Type locality: “at Kunua, Bougainville, Solomon Islands”  
Reproductionoviparous (not imputed, fide Zimin et al. 2022) 
TypesHolotype: MCZ 76551 
DiagnosisDiagnosis: S. tanneri differs from all other species with 28-32 midbody scales in its species group (Table 4) in the following combination of characters: small size (snout-vent length 52 mm or less); prefrontals forming a median suture; adpressed limbs widely separated; no symmetrical pairs of nuchal scales; middorsal scales subequal rather than with the scales of the two vertebral rows transversely enlarged; dorsum rich dark brown to brownish black with small paler spots on body which often coalesce on the anterior dorsolateral line to form a distinct light line. S. tanneri is most similar in squamation to S. nigriventre de Rooij (1915: 214-215) from southern New Guinea, and S. antoniorum Smith (1927: 216-217) from Timor. It differs from S. nigriventre in being much smaller in size (snout-vent length 90 mm for nigriventre) and lacking the dorsal transverse series of light, dark-edged spots of this species. It differs from S. antoniorum in having the prefrontals meeting medially (prefrontals separated or just touching one another in antoniorum), and in lacking the light brown dorsum with a heavy clustering of darker brownish spots along the dorsolateral line (GREER & PARKER 1967).


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CommentAbundance: this is one of the species called “lost” and “rediscovered” by Lindken et al. 2024. 
Etymologynamed after Charles Tanner (1911-1996), Australian herpetologist specializing in snake venom. 
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
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Greer,A.E. & Parker,F. 1967. A new scincid lizard from the northern Solomon Islands. Breviora (275): 1-20 - get paper here
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Zimin, A., Zimin, S. V., Shine, R., Avila, L., Bauer, A., Böhm, M., Brown, R., Barki, G., de Oliveira Caetano, G. H., Castro Herrera, F., Chapple, D. G., Chirio, L., Colli, G. R., Doan, T. M., Glaw, F., Grismer, L. L., Itescu, Y., Kraus, F., LeBreton 2022. A global analysis of viviparity in squamates highlights its prevalence in cold climates. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 00, 1–16 - get paper here
 
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