#niveoscincus

Hoser, R. T. 2022. Greater diversity of skink species in south-east Australia than previously realized: Carinascincus Wells and Wellington, 1985 sensu lato is further divided. Australasian Journal of Herpetology 59:48-64. ABSTRACT The ongoing audit of Australia’s herpetofauna has yielded hitherto unrecognized diversity of genera and species in skink in South-east Australia as seen for example in the papers of Hoser (2022a-e). This paper formally identifi es and names in accordance with the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (Ride et al. 1999) two new genera and ten new species of skink from south-east mainland Australia and Tasmania. Included are the following: 1/ The species originally described as Leiolopisma coventryi Rawlinson, 1975 is placed in a new genus, Abbasaurum gen. nov. (type species A. maxinehoserae sp. nov.) and divided into four species, including A. abba sp. nov., three of the total, being formally named for the fi rst time. The putative species originally described as Litotescincus bartelli Wells and Wellington, 1985 is clearly divergent and herein recognized as a subspecies of “Leiolopisma coventryi Rawlinson, 1975”. 2/ The species originally described as Mocoa metallica O’Shaughnessy, 1874, currently type species for the valid genus Litotescincus Wells and Wellington, 1985 is divided into six species, with four formally named for the fi rst time. The already named species Litotescincus metallica (O’Shaughnessy, 1874) and L. wellsi Hoser, 2016 are also part of this complex. 3/ Mocoa ocellatum Gray, 1845, is herein placed into a newly named genus Ocellatalbum gen. nov.. It is also formally divided into four species, three of which are formally named for the fi rst time as Ocellatalbum dannygoodwini sp. nov., O. alexdudleyi sp. nov. and O. assangei sp. nov.. All the newly described forms are both morphologically divergent and have origins that were allopatric across biogeographical barriers of known antiquity. Keywords: Taxonomy; nomenclature; skinks; Australia; New South Wales; Tasmania; Victoria; Mocoa; Leiolopisma; Lygosoma; Carinascincus; Niveoscincus; Pseudemoia; Litotescincus; coventryi; metallica; ocellatum; new genus; Abbasaurum; Ocellatalbum; new species; maxinehoserae; abba; bobbottomi; evanwhittoni; fiacummingae; martinekae; colinrayi; dannygoodwini; alexdudleyi; assangei.