Redescription and ecology of the endemic Tasmanian Scincid lizards Leiolopisma microlepidotum and L. Pretiosum

Abstract

Two species of scincid lizard, both hitherto identified as Leiolopisma pretiosum, occur syntopically on Mt Wellington, near Hobart, Tasmania. One of these is conspecific with the holotype of Moeoa pretiosa O'Shaughnessy, 1874, while the other is conspecific with the holotype of Mocoa microlepidota O'Shaughnessy, 1874, which has been regarded as a synonym of L. pretiosum since 1887. The two species are redescribed as members of an endemic Tasmanian subgroup within the Australian radiation of the genus Leiolopisma (sensu Greer 1982). Leiolopisma mierolepidotum is confined to disjunct alpine populations in the south and west of Tasmania. It differs from L. pretiosum in colour pattern, larger size and more robust, less depressed head and body. Aspects of the biology and ecology of these and other Tasmanian endemic Leiolopisma species are also discussed.