Alpinoscincus Slavenko & Tamar & Tallowin & Kraus & Allison & Carranza & Meiri 2022, GEN. NOV.
Creators: name: Slavenko, Alex
name: Tamar, Karin
name: Tallowin, Oliver J S
name: Kraus, Fred
name: Allison, Allen
name: Carranza, Salvador
name: Meiri, Shai
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Squamata
Reptilia
Scincidae
Alpinoscincus

description: ALPINOSCINCUS GEN. NOV.
(CLADE VI)
(FIG. 5; SUPPORTING INFORMATION, FIGS S6, S 8; TABLE 1)
Z o o b a n k R e g i s t r a t i o n: u r n: l s i d: z o o b a n k. org:act: D473AA5B-791E-4C76-A5A9-AE75D78958C0
Type species: Lobulia alpina Greer et al., 2005. Herpetological Monographs 19(1): 153–179.
Diagnosis: Medium-sized (adult SVL 46.1–72.7 mm) terrestrial to semi-arboreal skinks with moderate limbs (forelimbs 27.0–39.8% of SVL, hindlimbs 31.7–48.7% of SVL); small lobules present on anterior edge of ear opening; two pairs of chin shields in medial contact; modally three supralabials posterior to subocular supralabial; chin shields separated from infralabials by a row of genials; lower eyelid scaly; temporal region fragmented (> 3 scales); nasal scale undivided; frontoparietals unfused; viviparous; litter size 1–4.
Alpinoscincus differs from all other genera by modally having three (vs. two) supralabials posterior to the subocular supralabial. It further differs from Prasinohaema by lacking green blood and tissues, a prehensile tail with a glandular tip, and basally expanded subdigital lamellae. It further differs from Lobulia, Palaia and Papuascincus by having the lower eyelid scaly (vs. lower eyelid with a semi-transparent window), a fragmented (vs. the standard three-scale) temporal region and the chin shields separated from the infralabials by a row of genials (vs. chin shields abutting infralabials). It further differs from Palaia and Papuascincus by having two pairs of chin shields in medial contact (vs. one pair), unfused (vs. fused) frontoparietals and a viviparous (vs. oviparous) reproductive mode. It further differs from Palaia by its longer adult SVL (46.1–72.7 vs. 37.3–41.2 mm) and by lacking basally slightly expanded subidigital lamellae. It further differs from Papuascincus by having an undivided (vs. divided) nasal scale.
Etymology: A combinatorial noun derived from the Latin adjective alpinus, of high mountains, and Latin noun scincus, a type of lizard, in reference to the extremely high elevations in which species in this genus occur.
Species included: Alpinoscincus alpinus (Greer et al., 2005) comb. nov.; Alpinoscincus subalpinus (Greer et al., 2005) comb. nov.
Distribution: The two species of Alpinoscincus are restricted to extremely high elevations (> 2700 m a.s.l. in A. alpinus and> 2350 m a.s.l. in A. subalpinus) in the north-western Owen Stanley Range in the Papuan Peninsula. Alpinoscincus alpinus occurs in the Murray Range, the Wharton Range, and on Mt Albert Edward and Mt Yule. Alpinoscincus subalpinus occurs farther to the north-west, in the vicinity of Wau and Mt Missim.
Remarks: Molecular evidence suggests that another undescribed species occurs on the summit of Mt Victoria, but the specimen (BPBM 47913) was unavailable for morphological examination at the time of writing.
description: Published as part of Slavenko, Alex, Tamar, Karin, Tallowin, Oliver J S, Kraus, Fred, Allison, Allen, Carranza, Salvador & Meiri, Shai, 2022, Revision of the montane New Guinean skink genus Lobulia (Squamata: Scincidae), with the description of four new genera and nine new species, pp. 220-278 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 195 (1) on page 241, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab052, http://zenodo.org/record/6530695