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

PALAIA GEN. NOV. (CLADE IV) (FIG. 5; SUPPORTING INFORMATION, FIG. S6; 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: 89741FC3-DB12-469F-8682-C4579D922488 Type species: Lygosoma pulchrum Boulenger, 1903. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1903(2): 125–129. Diagnosis: Small (adult SVL 37.3–41.2 mm) skinks with short limbs (forelimbs 29.9–34.4% of SVL, hindlimbs 36.7–43.8% of SVL); small lobules present on anterior edge of ear opening; single pair of chin shields in medial contact; two supralabials posterior to subocular supralabial; chin shields abutting infralabials; lower eyelid with semi-transparent window; standard three-scale temporal region; nasal scale undivided; frontoparietals fused; oviparous; clutch size two; subdigital lamellae slightly expanded basally. Palaia differs from Nubeoscincus, Prasinohaema and Lobulia by having one pair of chin shields in medial contact (vs. two pairs) and an oviparous (vs. viviparous) reproductive mode. It further differs from Nubseoscincus and Lobulia by having slightly basally expanded subdigital lamellae. It further differs from Nubeoscincus and Prasinohaema by having the standard three-scale temporal region (vs. fragmented temporal region), the chin shields abutting the infralabials (vs. chin shields separated from infralabials by a row of genials) and fused (vs. unfused) frontoparietals. It further differs from Prasinohaema by lacking green blood serum (Greer, 1974) and tissues and a prehensile tail with a glandular tip. It differs from Papuascincus by having an undivided (vs. divided) nasal scale and slightly basally expanded subdigital lamellae and by lacking pustulate eggshells. Etymology: Latinized feminine genus from the Tok Pisin palai, lizard. Species included: Palaia pulchra (Boulenger, 1903) comb. nov. Distribution: The single species in the genus is distributed widely across the lowlands of northern New Guinea.