Miocene skinks and geckos reveal long-term conservatism of New Zealand's lizard fauna.
The New Zealand (NZ) lizard fossil record is currently limited to late Quaternary remains of modern taxa. The St Bathans Fauna (early Miocene, southern South Island) extends this record to 19-16 million years ago (Myr ago). Skull and postcranial elements are similar to extant Oligosoma (Lygosominae) skinks and Hoplodactylus (Diplodactylinae) geckos. There is no evidence of other squamate groups. These fossils, along with coeval sphenodontines, demonstrate a long conservative history for the NZ lepidosaurian fauna, provide new molecular clock calibrations and contradict inferences of a very recent (less than 8 Myr ago) arrival of skinks in NZ.
Lee
Michael S Y
MS
School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia. michael.s.lee@adelaide.edu.au
Hutchinson
Mark N
MN
Worthy
Trevor H
TH
Archer
Michael
M
Tennyson
Alan J D
AJ
Worthy
Jennifer P
JP
Scofield
R Paul
RP
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D001842:Bone and Bones; D005580:Fossils; D008116:Lizards; D009520:New Zealand