Invasive mammals are implicated in the decline or extinction of numerous insular vertebrate species worldwide, yet rediscoveries of supposedly extinct vertebrates occur regularly. In particular, recent records of secretive amphibian and reptile taxa in the Fiji Islands show that earlier claimed extirpations of Fijian wildlife were erroneous. We add to this growing body of evidence by documenting the Fiji barred treeskink Emoia trossula (Squamata: Scincidae) from Vanua Levu island, Fiji, where it was widely considered extirpated. Regional literature, coupled with this new record, emphasizes the conservation importance of remote forest blocks in Fiji as refugia against nonnative predatory mammals. Moreover, a clear need exists for additional survey work in Fiji to document the contemporary distribution of endemic and endangered herpetofaunal species across the archipelago.
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1 July 2018
All is Not Lost: Herpetofaunal “Extinctions” in the Fiji Islands
Adam G. Clause,
Nunia Thomas-Moko,
Sialisi Rasalato,
Robert N. Fisher
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Pacific Science
Vol. 72 • No. 3
July 2018
Vol. 72 • No. 3
July 2018
conservation
Emoia trossula
endangered
endemic
lizard
rediscovery
skink