Oligosoma

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Subordo: Scincomorpha
Superfamilia: Scincoidea

Familia: Scincidae
Subfamilia: Eugongylinae
Genus: Oligosoma
Species (54): O. acrinasum – O. aeneum – O. alani – O. albornense – O. auroraense – O. awakopaka – O. burganae – O. chloronoton – O. elium – O. fallai – O. grande – O. hardyi – O. homalonotum – O. hoparatea – O. inconspicuum – O. infrapunctatum – O. judgei – O. kahurangi – O. kakerakau – O. kokowai – O. levidensum – O. lichenigerum – O. lineoocellatum – O. longipes – O. maccanni – O. macgregori – O. microlepis – O. moco – O. newmani – O. nigriplantare – O. northlandi – O. notosaurus – O. oliveri – O. ornatum – O. otagense – O. pachysomaticum – O. pikitanga – O. polychroma – O. prasinum – O. repens – O. robinsoni – O. roimata – O. salmo – O. smithi – O. stenotis – O. striatum – O. suteri – O. taumakae – O. tekakahu – O. toka – O. townsi – O. waimatense – O. whitakeri – O. zelandicum
Name

Oligosoma Girard, 1857: 196

Type species: Tiliqua zelandica Gray, 1843, by original designation.

Synonymy

Cyclodina – Girardiscincus – Hombronia – Lygosomella – Robbisaurus – Vaderscincus
References
Primary references

Girard, C.F. 1857. Descriptions of some new reptiles, collected by the United States Exploring Expedition, under the command of Capt. Charles Wilkes, U. S. N. Fourth part. - Including the species of saurians, exotic to North America. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 9: 195–199. BHL Reference page.

Additional references

Patterson, G.B.; Daugherty, C.H. 1994: Leiolopisma stenotis, n. sp., (Reptilia: Lacertilia: Scincidae) from Stewart Island, New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 24(1): 125-132. DOI: 10.1080/03014223.1994.9517459 ZooBank
Find all Wikispecies pages which cite this reference.
Chapple, D.G., Patterson, G.B., Bell, T.P. & Daugherty, C.H. 2008. Taxonomic revision of the New Zealand copper skink (Cyclodina aenea: Squamata: Scincidae) species complex, with descriptions of two new species. Journal of Herpetology 42(3): 437–452. DOI: 10.1670/07-110.1 Reference page.
Chapple, D.G.; Daugherty, C.H.; Ritchie, P.A. 2008: Comparative phylogeography reveals pre-decline population structure of New Zealand Cyclodina (Reptilia: Scincidae) species. Biological journal of the Linnean Society, 95(2): 388–408. DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2008.01062.x Reference page.
Chapple, D.G.; Ritchie, P.A. & Daugherty, C.H. 2009: Origin, diversification, and systematics of the New Zealand skink fauna (Reptilia: Scincidae). Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 52(2): 470–487. DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2009.03.021 Reference page.
Hardy, G.S. 1977: The New Zealand Scincidae (Reptilia: Lacertilia); a taxonomic and zoogeographic study. New Zealand journal of zoology 4(3): 221–325. DOI: 10.1080/03014223.1977.9517956 Open access. Gbooks. Reference page.
Hitchmough, R.A.; Patterson, G.K.; Daugherty, C.H. (compilers) 2009: New Zealand living and recently extinct reptiles. P. 542 in:
King, C.M., Roberts, C.D., Bell, B.D., Fordyce, R.E., Nicoll, R.S., Worthy, T.H., Paulin, C.D., Hitchmough, R.A., Keyes, I.W., Baker, A.N., Stewart, A.L., Hiller, N., McDowall, R.M., Holdaway, R.N., McPhee, R.P., Schwarzhans, W.W., Tennyson A.J.D., Rust, S. & McCadie, I. 2009. Phylum Chordata: lancelets, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals. Pp. 431–551 in: Gordon, D.P. (ed.) 2009. New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume 1. Kingdom Animalia. Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch, New Zealand. ISBN 978-1-877257-72-8 Reference page.
Lee, M.S.Y.; Hutchinson, M.N.; Worthy, T.H.; Archer, M.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Worthy, J.P.; Scofield, R.P. 2009: Miocene skinks and geckos reveal long-term conservatism of New Zealand's lizard fauna. Biology letters, 5 (6): 833–837. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0440
Melzer, S., Bell, T.P. & Patterson, G.B. 2017. Hidden conservation vulnerability within a cryptic species complex: taxonomic revision of the spotted skink (Oligosoma lineoocellatum; Reptilia: Scincidae) from New Zealand. Zootaxa 4300(3): 355–379. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4300.3.2. Reference page.
Melzer, S., Bell, T.P. & Patterson, G.B. 2017. SABINE MELZER, TRENT BELL & GEOFF B. PATTERSON (2017) Hidden conservation vulnerability within a cryptic species complex: taxonomic revision of the spotted skink (Oligosoma lineoocellatum; Reptilia: Scincidae) from New Zealand. Zootaxa, 4300: 355–379. Zootaxa 4350(3): 600–600. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4350.3.14. Full article (PDF) Reference page.
Melzer, S., Hitchmough, R.A., Bell, T., Chapple, D.G. & Patterson, G.B. 2019. Lost and Found: Taxonomic revision of the speckled skink (Oligosoma infrapunctatum; Reptilia; Scincidae) species complex from New Zealand reveals a potential cryptic extinction, resurrection of two species, and description of three new species. Zootaxa 4623(3): 441–484. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4623.3.2. Reference page.
Patterson, G.B. 1997: South Island skinks of the genus Oligosoma: description of O. longipes n. sp. with redescription of O. otagense (McCann) and O. waimatense (McCann). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 27(4): 439-450. DOI: 10.1080/03014223.1997.9517547 Open access.
Patterson, G.B.; Bell, T.P. 2009: The Barrier skink Oligosoma judgei n. sp. (Reptilia: Scincidae) from the Darran and Takitimu Mountains, South Island, New Zealand. Zootaxa 2271: 43-56. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2271.1.4 Paywall.
Patterson, G.B.; Daugherty, C.H. 1990: Four new species and one new subspecies of skinks, genus Leiolopisma (Reptilia: Lacertilia: Scincidae) from New Zealand. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 20(1): 65-84. DOI: 10.1080/03036758.1990.10426733 Open access. Reference page.
Patterson, G.B. & Daugherty, C.H. 1995. Reinstatement of the genus Oligosoma (Reptilia: Lacertilia: Scincidae). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 25(3): 327–331. DOI: 10.1080/03014223.1995.9517493 Reference page.
Robb, J. 1975: Two new skinks of the genus Leiolopisma from New Zealand. Proceedings of the Section of Sciences, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (C), 78 (5): 477–483.
Robb, J. 1977: A revision of the synonymy of three species of leiolopismid skinks from New Zealand. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Zoology, 31: 303–310. BHL Internet Archive
Towns, D.R. 1974: Zoogeography and the New Zealand Scincidae. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 4 (2): 217–226. Google books
Wells, R.W.; Wellington, C.R. 1984: A synopsis of the class Reptilia in Australia. Australian journal of herpetology, 1: 73–129. PDF
Wells, R.W.; Wellington, C.R. 1985: A synopsis of the Amphibia and Reptilia of New Zealand. Australian journal of herpetology (supplementary series), ( 1 ): 62–64.
Whitaker, T., Chapple, D.G., Hitchmough, R.A., Lettink, M. & Patterson, G.B. 2018. A new species of scincid lizard in the genus Oligosoma (Reptilia: Scincidae) from the mid-Canterbury high country, New Zealand. Zootaxa 4377(2): 269–279. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4377.2.7 Reference page.
Worthy, T.H. 1991. Fossil skink bones from Northland, New Zealand, and description of a new species of Cyclodina, Scincidae. Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand 21(4): 329–348. DOI: 10.1080/03036758.1991.10420831 Reference page.
Barr, B.P., Chapple, D.G., Hitchmough, R.A., Patterson, G.B. & Ngātiwai Trust Board 2021. A new species of Oligosoma (Squamata: Scincidae) from the northern North Island, New Zealand. Zootaxa 5047(4): 401–415. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5047.4.1 Paywall Reference page.

Links

Uetz, P. & Hallermann, J. 2021. Oligosoma . The Reptile Database. Accessed on 27 October 2021.

Oligosoma is a genus of small to medium-sized skinks (family Scincidae) found only in New Zealand as well as Norfolk and Lord Howe islands. Oligosoma had previously been found to belong to the Eugongylus group of genera in the subfamily Lygosominae; the Australian genus Bassiana appears to be fairly closely related.[1]

Species

The currently described species[2] are:

Oligosoma acrinasum (Hardy, 1977) – Fiordland skink
Oligosoma aeneum (Girard, 1858) – copper skink
Oligosoma alani (Robb, 1970) – Alan's skink, robust skink
Oligosoma albornense Melzer, Hitchmough, Bell, Chapple, & Patterson, 2019 – Alborn skink
Oligosoma auroraense Melzer, Hitchmough, Bell, Chapple, & Patterson, 2019 – Hawke's Bay skink, eastern speckled skink
Oligosoma awakopaka Jewell, 2017 – Awakopaka skink
Oligosoma burganae Chapple et al., 2011 – Burgan skink
Oligosoma chloronoton (Hardy, 1977) – green skink
Oligosoma elium Melzer, Bell & Patterson, 2017 – Marlborough spotted skink
Oligosoma fallai (McCann, 1955) – Falla's skink, Three Kings skink
Oligosoma grande (Gray, 1845) – grand skink
Oligosoma hardyi (Chapple, Patterson, Bell, & Daugherty, 2008) – Hardy's skink
Oligosoma homalonotum (Boulenger, 1906) – chevron skink
Oligosoma hoparatea Whitaker, Chapple, Hitchmough, Lettink, & Patterson, 2018 – Pukuma skink, white-bellied skink
Oligosoma inconspicuum (Patterson & Daugherty, 1990) – cryptic skink
Oligosoma infrapunctatum (Boulenger, 1887) – cobble skink, speckled skink
Oligosoma judgei Patterson & Bell, 2009 – barrier skink
Oligosoma kahurangi Patterson & Hitchmough, 2021
Oligosoma kokowai Melzer, Bell, & Patterson, 2017 – northern spotted skink
Oligosoma levidensum (Chapple, Patterson, Bell, & Daugherty, 2008) – slight skink
Oligosoma lichenigerum (O’Shaughnessy, 1874) – Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands skink
Oligosoma lineoocellatum (A.H.A. Duméril, 1851) – Canterbury spotted skink
Oligosoma longipes Patterson, 1997 – long-toed skink
Oligosoma maccanni (Hardy, 1977) – McCann's skink
Oligosoma macgregori (Robb, 1975) – MacGregor's skink
Oligosoma microlepis (Patterson & Daugherty, 1990) – small-scaled skink
Oligosoma moco (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1839) – Moko skink
Oligosoma newmani (Wells & Wellington, 1985) – Newman's speckled skink
Oligosoma nigriplantare (W. Peters, 1874) – Chatham Islands skink
Oligosoma northlandi (Worthy, 1991) – Northland skink(extinct)
Oligosoma notosaurus (Patterson & Daugherty, 1990) – southern skink
Oligosoma oliveri (McCann, 1955) – marbled skink, Oliver's New Zealand skink
Oligosoma ornatum (Gray, 1843) – Gray's ornate skink
Oligosoma otagense (McCann, 1955) – Otago skink
Oligosoma pachysomaticum (Robb, 1975) – Coromandel skink
Oligosoma pikitanga Bell & Patterson, 2008 – Sinbad skink
Oligosoma polychroma Patterson & Daugherty, 1990 – common New Zealand skink, southern grass skink
Oligosoma prasinum Melzer, Bell, & Patterson, 2017 – Mackenzie skink
Oligosoma repens Chapple, Bell, S. Chapple, Miller, Daugherty, & Patterson, 2011 – Eyres skink
Oligosoma robinsoni (Wells & Wellington, 1985) - crenulate skink, Hokitika skink, cobble skink
Oligosoma roimata Patterson, Hitchmough, & Chapple, 2013 – Aorangi skink
Oligosoma salmo Melzer, Hitchmough, Bell, Chapple, & Patterson, 2019 – Chesterfield skink
Oligosoma smithi (Gray, 1845) – shore skink
Oligosoma stenotis (Patterson & Daugherty, 1994) – small-eared skink
Oligosoma striatum (Buller, 1871) – striped skink
Oligosoma suteri (Boulenger, 1906) – egg-laying skink, Suter's skink
Oligosoma taumakae Chapple & Patterson, 2007 – Open Bay Islands skink, Taumaka skink
Oligosoma tekakahu Chapple, Bell, S. Chapple, Miller, Daugherty, & Patterson, 2011 – Te Kakahu skink
Oligosoma toka Chapple, Bell, S. Chapple, Miller, Daugherty, & Patterson, 2011 – Nevis skink
Oligosoma townsi (Chapple, Patterson, Gleeson, Daugherty, & Ritchie, 2008) - Mokohinau skink
Oligosoma waimatense (McCann, 1955) – scree skink
Oligosoma whitakeri (Hardy, 1977) – Whitaker's New Zealand skink
Oligosoma zelandicum (Gray, 1843) – brown skink

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Oligosoma.
Merging Oligosoma and Cyclodina

A molecular phylogenetic analysis[3] has merged the old genus Cyclodina with Oligosoma, rendering Cyclodina an obsolete taxon.
References

Austin, J.J.; Arnold, E.N. (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)
Uetz, P.; Freed, P.; Hošek, J. (eds.). "Oligosoma". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 10 October 2010.

Chapple, David G.; Ritchie, Peter A.; Daugherty, Charles H. (August 2009). "Origin, diversification, and systematics of the New Zealand skink fauna (Reptilia: Scincidae)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 52 (2): 470–487. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.03.021. PMID 19345273.