Carinascincus

Carinascincus is a genus of skinks (family Scincidae), commonly called snow skinks[1] or cool-skinks[2] and residing mainly in Tasmania or Victoria, Australia.[3] Then recognised as the genus Niveoscincus, it was found to belong to a clade with the genera Carlia, Lampropholis and others of the Eugongylus group within Lygosominae.[4] Cogger has rejected the use of the junior name Niveoscincus and recognizes the valid senior generic name Carinascincus for the group.[5] For similar skinks see genera Pseudemoia, Lampropholis, and Bassiana. These skinks have adapted to the cooler weather of southern Australia and particularly Tasmania, hence the common names.

Carinascincus
Carinascincus metallicus, metallic skink, near Cradle Mountain, Tasmania
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Subfamily: Eugongylinae
Genus: Carinascincus
Wells & Wellington, 1985
Species

Eight, see text.

Synonyms
  • Niveoscincus
    Hutchinson et al., 1990

Species
  • Carinascincus coventryi (Rawlinson, 1975) – southern forest cool-skink
  • Carinascincus greeni (Rawlinson, 1975) – alpine cool-skink or northern snow skink
  • Carinascincus metallicus (O'Shaughnessy, 1874) – metallic skink or metallic cool-skink
  • Carinascincus microlepidotus (O'Shaughnessy, 1874) – boulder cool-skink or southern snow skink
  • Carinascincus ocellatus (Gray, 1845) – spotted skink, ocellated cool-skink, or ocellated skink
  • Carinascincus orocryptus (Hutchinson, Schwaner & Medlock, 1988) – Tasmanian mountain skink, heath cool-skink, or mountain skink
  • Carinascincus palfreymani (Rawlinson, 1974) – Pedra Branca skink, Pedra Branca cool-skink, or red-throated skink
  • Carinascincus pretiosus (O'Shaughnessy, 1874) – Tasmanian tree skink or agile cool-skink

References
  1. Wilson S, Swan G (2003). A Complete Guide to Reptiles of Australia. Second Edition. Sydney: New Holland Publishing.
  2. Carinascincus. The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  3. http://www.cyberlizard.org.uk/skinks_niveoscincus.htm Niveoscincus
  4. Austin JJ, Arnold EN (2006). "Using ancient and recent DNA to explore relationships of extinct and endangered Leiolopisma skinks (Reptilia: Scincidae) in the Mascarene islands". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39 (2): 503–511. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.12.011 (HTML abstract)
  5. Cogger (2014).

Further reading
  • Hutchinson MN, Donnellan SC, Baverstock PR, Krieg M, Simms S, Burgin S (1990). "Immunological Relationships and Generic Revision of the Australian Lizards Assigned to the Genus Leiolopisma (Scincidae, Lygosominae)". Australian J. Zool. 38 (5): 535–554. (Niveoscincus, new genus).
  • Cogger HG (2014). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. xxx + 1,033 pp. ISBN 978-064 310 0350.
  • Wells, Richard W.; Wellington, C. Ross (1985). "A Classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia". Australian Journal of Herpetology, Supplemental Series (1): 1-61. (Carinascincus, new genus, p. 24).


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