A new species of montane Prasinohaema (Sphenomorphini: Scincidae) from the South-fold Mountains of New Guinea

Over the last two decades herpetofauna surveys in the South-fold mountains of central New Guinea have revealed many new and locally endemic species. Here, we describe a new species of skink in the genus Prasinohaema from three montane localities in Papua New Guinea’s central ranges spanning approximately 80 km between the Muller Range in the northwest and the Tari Gap in the southeast. Genetic evidence indicates that Prasinohaema scurrula sp. nov. is most closely related to two other predominantly montane species of Prasinohaema, including the type species for the genus P. flavipes.

It can be readily distinguished from other Prasinohaema by aspects of body size and proportions, scalation of head and digits, and colouration. The new species is likely arboreal as the paratype was collected in a tree canopy. This could explain the scarcity of observations in a relatively well-sampled region.

Despite the small number of known localities there appears to be extensive suitable habitat for this species in the region and there are no major current threats, so we suggest an IUCN status of Least Concern. To facilitate further taxonomic work on Australasian skinks we also provide preferred definitions and names for key scalation states which have been variably defined and/or assigned different names in previous literature.