New Zealand Journal of Zoology abstracts
Taxonomic revision of the marbled skink (Cyclodina oliveri,
Reptilia: Scincidae) species complex, with a description of a new
species
David G. Chapple1,*
Geoff B. Patterson2
Dianne M. Gleeson3
Charles H. Daugherty1
Peter A. Ritchie1
1Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution
School of Biological Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600
Wellington 6140, New Zealand
2149 Mairangi Road
Wilton
Wellington 6012, New Zealand
3Landcare Research
Ecological Genetics Laboratory
Private Bag 92170
Auckland 1142, New Zealand
*Corresponding author: David Chapple, Museum Victoria,
Herpetology Section, GPO Box 666, Melbourne Victoria 3001,
Australia.
dchapple@museum.vic.gov.au
Abstract We have completed a taxonomic
revision of the New
Zealand marbled skink (Cyclodina oliveri) species complex.
Morphological analyses and mitochondrial sequence data (ND2, ND4,
Cytochrome b; Total 1933 bp) are used to describe a new taxon (commonly
known as the “Mokohinau” skink) and redefine C. oliveri. The
morphological and molecular data indicate that C. oliveri is
distributed on the Poor Knights Islands, Mercury Islands and Aldermen
Islands. The new species is restricted to the Mokohinau Islands, Hen
and Chickens group, Little Barrier Island and Great Barrier Island. Our
data demonstrate that there is no support for the separation of the
Poor Knights Islands population of C. oliveri from those on the
Mercury Islands and Aldermen Islands. The genetic data indicate that C.
whitakeri is part of the C. oliveri species group.
Divergence time estimates indicate that the C. oliveri species
complex diverged during the late-Miocene, with further divergences
among island groups in C. oliveri including the origin of the
new taxon during the late-Pliocene and mid-Pleistocene. We present a
diagnostic key for Cyclodina.
Keywords biogeography; mitochondrial DNA
phylogeny; Miocene
speciation; morphological divergence; New Zealand archipelago;
Northland; Pleistocene glacial cycles; Pliocene divergence
Z07040; Online publication date 12 May 2008; Received 25 July 2007;
accepted 1 February 2008
New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 2008, Vol. 35: 129–146
0301–4223/08/3502–129 © The Royal Society of New Zealand 2008
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