A new species of skink from the Guadeloupe Archipelago (Squamata, Mabuyidae, Mabuya)

• Main Authors: Hedges, S. Blair, Lorvelec, Olivier, Barré, Nicolas, Berchel, Joël, Diard Combot, Marion, Vidal, Nicolas, Pavis, Claude
• Other Authors: Center fo Biodiversity, Temple University Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE)-Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE), Écologie et santé des écosystèmes (ESE), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AGROCAMPUS OUEST, Association pour l'Etude et la Protection des Vertébrés et Végétaux des Petites Antilles (AEVA), Association Titè, Réserve Naturelle Nationale des Iles de la Petite Terre, Réserves Naturelles de France-Réserves Naturelles de France, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB ), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Agrosystèmes tropicaux (ASTRO), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: systematics; reptilia; caribbean; island; lizard; phylogeny; mabuya; scincomorpha; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01277633

A new species of lizard of the genus Mabuya is described from a small island in the Guadeloupe Archipelago: Terre de Bas, Îles de la Petite Terre. Mabuya parviterrae sp. nov. is allied with the other four species of Mabuya from Guadeloupe. However, it differs in scalation, coloration, and (where available) DNA sequence. Of the nine named species in the genus, only M. dominicana (from Dominica), M. desiradae (from La Désirade), nd M. parviterrae sp. nov. have escaped decimation and possible extinction by the Small Indian Mongoose, Urva auropunctata. The latter two species of skinks are critically endangered, being threatened by the Black Rat (Rattus rattus) and degraded habitat that has not recovered from early land use. The Petite Terre Skink probably has one of the smallest distributions of a vertebrate species. The species consists of approximately 50 individuals living primarily in a dry stone wall of less than 500 square meters in extent.