Pygmaeascincus, Couper & Hoskin, 2014

Couper, Patrick J. & Hoskin, Conrad J., 2014, A new genus to accommodate three skinks currently assigned to Menetia (Lacertilia: Scincidae), Zootaxa 3884 (6), pp. 597-599 : 598-599

Pygmaeascincus gen. nov.

Type species. Pygmaeascincus timlowi ( Ingram 1977)

Species. P. timlowi ( Ingram 1977) , P. koshlandae ( Greer 1991) , P. sadlieri ( Greer 1991) .

Etymology. From the Latin pygmaea for pygmy. Referring to the very small size of the three species. These skinks, at SVL <30 mm, are amongst the smallest skinks in the world ( Greer 2001).

Diagnosis. Pygmaeascincus is a genus of small litter skinks that is distinguished from all other Australian skinks by the following character states: small size (SVL <30 mm); limbs short and widely separated when adpressed; digital formula 4/5 (four fingers, five toes) with ≤ 10 supradigital scales on fourth toe; frontoparietals and interparietal fused into a single shield; eyelid preablepharine; supraoculars transverse, ≤ 3, squarish, with only the 1 st contacting the frontal.

The ‘ timlowi’ species group is separated from Menetia , to which it was most recently assigned by at least 14 characters (1–14 in Table 1 ). The polarity of most of these characters remains uncertain. One of these is clearly a derived character ( Greer 1991): frontoparietals fused with interparietal to form a single shield (vs interparietal distinct from fused frontoparietals) and is a very rare condition seen in only a few other Australian skinks ( Greer 1991). Two other characters are most likely derived (15 and 16 in Table 1 ) but each is only diagnostic for two of the three Pygmaeascincus . The first is a reduced number of supraoculars. A reduction from the plesiomorphic condition of four supraoculars ( Greer 1991) is derived in both Pygmaeascincus and Menetia , but in Menetia there are always two supraoculars whereas two of the three Pygmaeascincus have 3 ( Table 1 ). The second is the presence of enlarged upper palprebrals in P. timlowi and P sadlieri , a condition that appears to be unique within skinks ( Greer, 1991).