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Abstract
Saproscincus skinks are restricted to wet forest habitats of eastern Australia. Eleven species have previously been described, with most having small distributions in disjunct areas of subtropical and tropical rainforest. The localized distributions and specific habitat requirements of Saproscincus have made them a key group for understanding the biogeographic history of Australia's rainforests. Here I describe a new species of Saproscincus from the Melville Range on Cape Melville, north-east Australia. The Melville Range is composed of boulder-fields and areas of rainforest in the uplands, and is highly isolated from other areas of elevated rainforest. All individuals of the new species were found on a moist ridgeline, active on boulders under a rainforest canopy or on boulder-field immediately adjacent to rainforest. Saproscincus saltus sp. nov. is highly distinct in morphology and colour pattern. Of particular interest are its long limbs and digits compared to congeners, which in conjunction with the observed ecology, suggest a long history of association with rock. The discovery of S. saltus sp. nov. extends the distribution of the genus over 100 km north from the nearest congeners in the Wet Tropics region. This species brings the number of vertebrates known to be endemic to the Melville Range to six, which is remarkable for such a small area.
Highlights
The genus Saproscincus Wells & Wellington 1984 consists of 11 species distributed in the coastal ranges and lowlands of eastern Australia
Distinguished from S. basiliscus by smaller size, longer limbs and digits, flatter head (HD/snout to vent length (SVL) 8.2–9.0% vs 9.2– 11.0%), more 4th toe lamellae, and fewer midbody scale rows (Table1)
The description of S. saltus sp. nov. brings the number of Saproscincus to 12, and extends the distribution of the genus 110 km north from the northern end of the range of S. lewisi at Mt Webb (15°04' S, 145°07' E) (Couper & Keim 1998)
Summary
The genus Saproscincus Wells & Wellington 1984 consists of 11 species distributed in the coastal ranges and lowlands of eastern Australia. Most of the species have localized distributions in rainforests of coastal Queensland and northern New South Wales, and the genus has been a key group in biogeographic analyses of the history of Australia’s rainforests (e.g., Moritz et al 2005; Moussalli et al 2005). The clade is distributed in rainforests of mid-east and north-east Queensland, with the most northerly species being S. lewisi in the northern Wet Tropics region. The rainforest of the Melville Range is isolated from other rainforest areas, lying approximately 170 km north of the rainforests of the Wet Tropics and about 130 km south-east of McIlwraith Range (Fig. 1). Two other new species were discovered during these surveys, a Cophixalus frog (Hoskin, in press) and a Saltuarius gecko (Hoskin & Couper, 2013)
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