Morphological variation of Emoia murphyi (Lacertilia: Scincidae) on islands of the southwest Pacific

Abstract

We examined variation in measurements and scalation of 114 specimens of Murphy's tree skink Emoia murphyi from five island groups of the southwest Pacific. In the largest sample (Niuafo'ou) males were significantly longer than females. Populations from Futuna, Samoa, Niuafo'ou, Vava'u and Ha'apai showed little morphological divergence, and there were no geographic trends in scalation. We conclude that the various populations are conspecific. The lack of morphological discontinuity suggests that the lizards dispersed between the far‐flung island groups recently, and makes more likely the possibility that Polynesian seafaring rather than natural spread was the agent of dispersal. The source population—whether within or beyond the known distribution of E. murphyi—is at present indeterminate.