Ornithuroscincus Slavenko & Tamar & Tallowin & Kraus & Allison & Carranza & Meiri 2022, GEN. NOV

ORNITHUROSCINCUS GEN. NOV. (CLADE VII) (FIGS 5, 16–24; 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 sabini Kraus, 2020. Zootaxa 4779(2): 201–214. Diagnosis: Small to medium-sized (adult SVL 29.4– 69.2 mm) terrestrial to semi-arboreal skinks with short limbs (forelimbs 25.7–36.3% of SVL, hindlimbs 29–47.3% of SVL); lobules absent from anterior edge of ear opening; a single pair of chin shields in medial contact; two supralabials posterior to subocular supralabial; chin shields abutting infralabials; lower eyelid with semitransparent window; standard three-scale temporal region; nasal scale undivided; frontoparietals either fused or unfused; viviparous; litter size 1–3. Ornithuroscincus differs from all other genera apart from Nubeoscincus by the absence of lobules from the anterior edge of the ear (vs. lobules present)—a character which in Nuboescincus only occurs in one species, N. stellaris. It further differs from Alpinoscincus, Lobulia, Nubeoscincus and Prasinohaema by having one pair of chin shields in medial contact (vs. two pairs). It further differs from Alpinoscincus, Nubeoscincus and Prasinohaema by the chin shields abutting the infralabials (vs. chin shields separated from infralabials by a row of genials) and by having the standard three-scale temporal region (vs. fragmented temporal region). It further differs from Alpinsocincus by having two (vs. three) supralabials posterior to the subocular supralabial. It further differs from Prasinohaema by lacking green blood serum and tissues, a prehensile tail with a glandular tip and basally expanded subdigital lamellae. It further differs from Palaia and Papuascincus by its viviparous (vs. oviparous) reproductive mode. It further differs from Palaia by lacking basally slightly expanded subidigtal lamellae. It further differs from Papuascincus by having an undivided (vs. divided) nasal scale. It further differs from Alpinoscincus by having the lower eyelid with a semi-transparent window (vs. scaly). Etymology: A combined noun formed from the Latinized Greek nouns ornis, bird, and oura, tail, appended to the Latin noun scincus, a type of lizard, referring to the centre of distribution of the genus, as most species occur in the Papuan Peninsula, also known as the Bird’s Tail in reference to the general shape of New Guinea resembling a bird-of-paradise. Species included: Ornithuroscincus albodorsalis (Vogt, 1932) comb. nov.; Ornithuroscincus noctua (Lesson, 1830) comb. nov.; Ornithuroscincus nototaenia (Boulenger, 1914) comb. nov.; Ornithuroscincus sabini (Kraus, 2020) comb. nov.; and new species described below. Species incertae sedis: Lipinia venemai (Brongersma, 1953a) possesses many traits the combination of which is uniquely found among New Guinean skinks in Ornithuroscincus, including viviparity, lacking lobules on the anterior edge of the ear opening, two supralabials posterior to the subocular supralabial, lower eyelid with a semi-transparent window, separated frontoparietals, chin shields abutting the infralabials, a standard three-scale temporal region, and an undivided nasal scale. However, the holotype of Li. venemai differs from all other members of Ornithuroscincus in having two pairs of chin shields in medial contact (vs. one). Since genetic data for this species are unavailable, we tentatively place it as incertae sedis in Ornithuroscincus but stress that more work is required to fully ascertain its generic affiliation. Distribution: Most species in the genus have a montane distribution in the Papuan Peninsula, and appear to have narrow distributions restricted to one or a few adjacent mountains. The lowland species appear to be far more widespread, both in New Guinea and elsewhere. Ornithuroscincus albodorsalis is known from West Sepik Province (Papua New Guinea), north of the Central Cordillera; O. nototaenia is known from the Setakwa River in Papua Province (Indonesia) and from the Palmer River in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea (Shea, 2008), both localities south of the Central Cordillera of New Guinea. Ornithuroscincus cf. venemai is known from Ajamaroe in the Vogelkop Peninsula, West Papua Province, Indonesia. Ornithuroscincus noctua is widespread throughout the northern versant of New Guinea, as well as across many islands in the Pacific Ocean, but it is clearly a species complex in need of taxonomic resolution [see also Zweifel (1979) and Austin (1999) for discussions of morphological and genetic variation in O. noctua]. Remarks: Several of the species assigned to this genus have been previously assigned to a different genus by Raymond Hoser, an act which would give Hoser’s generic name priority. However, we follow Kaiser et al.’s recommendation and completely disregard Hoser’s nomenclature due to his broad acts of taxonomic vandalism, which do not stand up to even the slightest level of scientific standard or scrutiny (Kaiser et al., 2013). Ornithuroscincus albodorsalis had been previously sampled genetically and found to be phylogenetically closest to O. noctua (Rodriguez et al., 2018). However, no other members of Ornithuroscincus were sampled in that study. Furthermore, O. nototaenia is only known from the Setakwa River and the Palmer River, south of the Central Cordillera and far from all other recognized species in the genus (Boulenger, 1914; Wollaston, 1914; Shea, 2008). Similarly, O. cf. venemai has only been recorded from the Vogelkop Peninsula (Brongersma, 1953a) and has never been collected since. Therefore, the relationships between O. albodorsalis, O. nototaenia, O. cf. venemai and other members of the genus, remain to be resolved. Molecular evidence suggests that a further undescribed species not treated herein occurs in Vori Vori, a foothills site in proximity to the Kokoda Track in the Papuan Peninsula, but the voucher (BPBM 48589) was unavailable for morphological examination at the time of writing, and so we refrain from formally describing it. Furthermore, O. noctua likely represents a species complex, but revising it is beyond the scope of the current work.
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 pages 241-243, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab052, http://zenodo.org/record/6530695
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