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| Mabuya parviterrae
Hedges, Lorvelec, Barré, Berchel, Combot, Vidal & Pavis, 2016
Petite Terre Skink | Scinque de la Petite Terre
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Abstract
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 Gua-deloupe. However, it differs in scalation, coloration, and (where available) DNA sequence. Of the nine named spe-cies in the genus, only M. dominicana (from Dominica), M. desiradae (from La Désirade), and 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.
Keywords: Caribbean, island, lizard, phylogeny, Reptilia, Scincomorpha, systematics.
Mabuya parviterrae sp. nov.
Petite Terre Skink (Scinque de la Petite Terre, French)
(Figs. 3A–F, 4A–C, 5, 6B–D)
Mabuya mabouya mabouya—Lorvelec et al. 2000: 37 (part, Îles de la Petite Terre).
Mabuya mabouya—Breuil 2002: 267 (part, Îles de la Petite Terre).
Mabuya mabouya—Lorvelec et al. 2007: 141 (part, Îles de la Petite Terre).
Mabuya mabouya—Lorvelec 2011: 1 (part, Îles de la Petite Terre).
Mabuya desiradae—Hedges & Conn 2012: 97 (part, Îles de la Petite Terre).
Mabuya cf. desiradae—Lorvelec et al. 2012: 11 (part, Îles de la Petite Terre)
Mabuya desiradae—Hedges 2014: 327 (part, Îles de la Petite Terre).
Mabuya desiradae—Angin & Gomès 2015: 1 (part, Îles de la Petite Terre).
Holotype. MNHN-RA-2015.0059, an adult female, collected by Nicolas Barré on a dry stone wall near the middle of Terre de Bas, Îles de la Petite Terre, Guadeloupe (16.1714, -61.1207, 5 m), on 22 April 2015. Additional specimen tag SBH 274765.
Distribution. The Îles de la Petite Terre (Fig. 1B) is a micro-archipelago composed of two islets: Terre de Bas (1.17 km²; 1.11 km² without its four lagoons) and Terre de Haut (0.32 km²). The species is known only from Terre de Bas. Despite searches, it has not yet been found on nearby Terre de Haut.
Etymology. The species name (parviterrae) means ‘small land’ in Latin and is a feminine genitive singular noun, referring to the distribution of the species on Îles de la Petite Terre.
S. Blair Hedges, Olivier Lorvelec, Nicolas Barré, Joël Berchel, Marion Diard Combot, Nicolas Vidal and Claudie Pavis. 2016. A New Species of Skink from the Guadeloupe Archipelago (Squamata, Mabuyidae, Mabuya). Caribbean Herpetology. 53:1–14.