A new scincid lizard of the genus Leiolopisma from New Guinea

The lizard fauna of New Guinea numbers over 150 species (for a list, now well out-dated, see Loveridge, 1948), and probably more than two-thirds of these belong to the family Scincidae. With the exception of studies by Brown (1953, 1954) on the genus Emoia, the large and diverse scincid fauna has received little attention from herpetologists since De Rooij (1915) summarized existing knowledge. The validity of many named forms is questionable, and details of distribution and ecology are known for virtually none. The purpose of the present paper is to describe an evidently unnamed species that has been confused with a widespread Papuan species, Leiolopisma miotis. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to acknowledge with thanks the help of the following persons who donated specimens or lent specimens in their care for my study (abbreviations in parentheses are used hereafter in the text): Jared Diamond of the University of California at Los Angeles donated specimens to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH); Ernest Williams, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University (MCZ); Alice Grandison and E. N. Arnold, British Museum (Natural History) (BMNH); Günther Peters, Zoologisches Museum der Humboldt-Universität, Berlin (ZMB). My field work in New Guinea in 1968 was made possible by a grant from the National Geographic Society, and in 1969 I participated in the R/V Alpha Helix expedition to New Guinea (sponsored by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, funded by the National Science Foundation). I obtained specimens of the new species herein described on both of these trips.