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Tiliqua gigas (SCHNEIDER, 1801)

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Higher TaxaScincidae, Egerniinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesTiliqua gigas evanescens SHEA 2000
Tiliqua gigas keiensis OUDEMANS 1894
Tiliqua gigas gigas (SCHNEIDER 1801) 
Common NamesE: Giant Bluetongue Skink 
SynonymScincus gigas SCHNEIDER 1801: 202
Cyclodus Petersii STRAUCH 1866
Tiliqua gigas — DE ROOIJ 1915: 157
Tiliqua gigas — SMITH 1937: 233
Tiliqua gigas — MYS 1988: 147
Tiliqua gigas — ADLER, AUSTIN & DUDLEY 1995

Tiliqua gigas evanescens SHEA 2000
Tiliqua gigas evanescens — WILMS 2005

Tiliqua gigas keyensis OUDEMANS 1894
Tiliqua gigas var. keyensis OUDEMANS 1894: 138
Tiliqua gigas keiensis — DAAN & HILLENIUS 1966: 136
Tiliqua gigas keyensis — SHEA 2000
Tiliqua gigas keyensis — NOËL 2009 
DistributionIndonesia (Ambon, Ceram = Seram, Ternate, Halmahera, Ke, Aru, Sulawesi), Papua New Guinea, Jobi, Admirality Islands, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago.

evanescens: E/S Papua New Guinea, Indonesia (Irian Jaya); Type locality: Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

keyensis: Aru, Kei Islands, Irian Jaya (Indonesia)

Type locality: “Ambon” (neotype locality)  
Reproductionviviparous 
TypesNeotype: RMNH 5197, female, collected by F. Kopstein 1923, designated by Shea 2000: 180.
Holotype: AMS R 116664, adult female; paratypes: AM, AMNH, BMNH, BPBM (Honolulu), FMNH, NMW 10694, RMN, SAM, USNM, ZMB [evanescens]
Lectotype: ZMA.RENA 10991, Kei Islands, Indonesia, collected A.C. Wertheim, 1888. Designated by Daan & Hillenius (1966). [keiensis]
Holotype: ZISP 368, “Kunstkamer”. Leg.: unknown? [Cyclodus Petersii] 
Diagnosis 
CommentDistribution after BARBOUR 1914: 183. For maps of the 3 subspecies see Koppetsch et al. 2020. 
EtymologyNamed after the giant “Gigas” in Greek mythology, the child of Uranus and Gaea. The name is applied to taxa that are giants oftheir kind. 
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
  • BARABANOV, ANDREI & KONSTANTIN MILTO 2017. An annotated type catalogue of the anguid, dibamid, scincid and varanid lizards in the Department of Herpetology, Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia (Reptilia: Sauria: Anguidae, Dibamidae, Scincidae and Varanida Zootaxa 4244 (1): 065–078 - get paper here
  • Barbour, Thomas 1912. A Contribution to the Zoögeography of the East Indian Islands. Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy 44 (1): 1-203 - get paper here
  • Bonetti, Mathilde 2002. 100 Sauri. Mondadori (Milano), 192 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
  • Daan, S. & Hillenius,D. 1966. Catalogue of the type specimens of amphibians and reptiles in the Zoological Museum, Amsterdam. Beaufortia 13: 117-144
  • de Rooij, N. de 1915. The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. I. Lacertilia, Chelonia, Emydosauria. Leiden (E. J. Brill), xiv + 384 pp. - get paper here
  • Frynta, D., Gunalen, D., & Somerová, B. 2021. Genetic variation of blue-tongue skinks of the genus Tiliqua (Squamata: Scincidae) from New Guinea and Wallacea. Biologia, 1-11 - get paper here
  • Gemel, R.; G. Gassner & S. Schweiger 2019. Katalog der Typen der Herpetologischen Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien – 2018. Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 121: 33–248
  • Hauschild, A., R. HITZ, K. HENLE, G.M. SHEA & H. WERNING (eds.) 2000. Blauzungenskinke. Beiträge zu Tiliqua und Cyclodomorphus. Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 287 pp. - get paper here
  • Hediger, H. 1934. Beitrag zur Herpetologie und Zoogeographie Neu-Britanniens und einiger umliegender Gebiete. Zool. Jahrb. (Syst.) 65: 441-582
  • Hitz,R. 2001. Neuigkeiten in der Gattung Tiliqua (Echte Blauzungenskinke). Elaphe 9 (2): 61-64
  • Janssen, J. & Leupen, B.T.C. 2019. Traded under the radar: poor documentation of trade in nationally-protected non-CITES species can cause fraudulent trade to go undetected. Biodivers Conserv (2019) - get paper here
  • Koppetsch, Thore; Letha L. Wantania; Farnis B. Boneka & Wolfgang Böhme 2020. Crossing the Weber Line: First record of the Giant Bluetongue Skink Tiliqua gigas (Schneider, 1801) (Squamata: Scincidae) from Sulawesi, Indonesia. Bonn zoological Bulletin 69 (2): 185–189 - 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
  • Noël, V. 2009. Confusions et hybridations au sein du genre Tiliqua : Tiliqua scincoides (Hunter, 1790), Tiliqua gigas (Schneider, 1801) et Tiliqua sp. dit « Irian Jaya » (Sauria : Scincidae). [Confusions and hybridizations in the genus Tiliqua: Tiliqua scincoides ( Bull. Soc. Herp. France (132): 71-84 - get paper here
  • Oudemans, J. Th. 1894. Eidechsen und Schildkröten. In Semon, R. Zoologische Forschungsreisen in Australien und dem Malayischen Archipel. Denkschriften der Medicinisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft zu Jena, 8:127—146 - get paper here
  • Schade, W. 1980. Tiliqua gigas (Riesenskink). Sauria 2 (3): 23-24 - 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
  • Shea, G.M. 2000. Die Neuguinea-Blauzunge, Tiliqua gigas (SCHNEIDER, 1801): Ökologie und Übersicht über die Unterarten nebst Beschreibung einer neuen Unterart, Tiliqua gigas evanescens subsp. nov. – In: HAUSCHILD, A., R. HITZ, K. HENLE, G.M. SHEA & H. WERNING (Hrsg.): Natur und Tier Verlag (Münster), 287 pp. - 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
  • Wilms, T. 2005. Vorstellung einer Gemeinschaftsanlage zur Haltung australischer Echsen im Reptilium Landau. Draco 5 (22): 38-45 - get paper here
 
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