Hoser, R. T. 2022. The inevitable further break up of the skink genus Saproscincus Wells and Wellington (1984) into two genera, each split to subgenera and the formal description of a new species from North Queensland, Australia. Australasian Journal of Herpetology ® Issue 57, published 10 June 2022. 53-64. ABSTRACTThe skink genus Saproscincus Wells and Wellington (1984), type species Mocoa mustelina O'Shaughnessy, 1874 comprises a diverse assemblage of skinks from eastern Australia. Wells and Wellington (1985) considered erecting a new genus for the Lygosoma challengeri Boulenger, 1887 group, but deferred to Allen Greer, who at the time was working on the relevant species.For the species Lampropholis tetradactyla Greer and Kluge, 1980, Wells and Wellington (1985) said "We herein only tentatively include this species in Saproscincus.”Since 1985, no further movement has been done with regards of the generic assignments of species or species groups placed within Saproscincus by Wells and Wellington (1985) and Greer has been retired from herpetology for many years.In view of more recent molecular studies, including those of Moussalli et al. (2005) and Pyron et al. (2013), Saproscincus is formally divided into two genera, each reasonably estimated to be divergent from one another more than 10 MYA.Furthermore each of these are divided into two subgenera.The species originally described as Lampropholis basiliscus Ingram and Rawlinson, 1981, with a type locality of Charmillin Creek, via Ravenshoe, North Queensland, Latitude -17.43 S., Longitude 145.31 E. has also long been known to comprise two very divergent populations, with molecular evidence of Moussalli et al. (2005) confirming that they are of two species.The previously unnamed southern population, with a distribution centred on Mount Spec, the Paluma Range and Hinchinbrook Island is herein formally named as a new species Obscuraskinkus neglectus sp. nov..The putative species “S. czechurai (Ingram and Rawlinson, 1981)”, with a type locality of Charmillin Creek, via Ravenshoe, North Queensland, Latitude -17.43 S., Longitude 145.31 E. is also split in line with morphological differences by location and molecular divergence into two subspecies, across the low-lying region biogeographical barrier between Cairns and Port Douglas, Queensland (the Black Mountain Corridor), with the northern form formally named Obscuraskinkus (Sparsuskinkus) czechurai divergens subsp. nov..Keywords: Taxonomy; nomenclature; Australia; Skink; lizard; Scincidae;Queensland; New South Wales; Saproscincus; new genus; Obscuraskinkus; new subgenus; Tractuoscincus; Sparsuskinkus; new species; neglectus; new subspecies; divergens.
