Kingdom Animalia Class Reptilia Family Scincidae Scientific name Oligosoma gracilicorpus | Phylum Chordata Order Squamata Genus Oligosoma Rank Species | |
Similar Falla's skink, Oligosoma homalonotum, Oligosoma, Kawekaweau | ||
Oligosoma gracilicorpus, the narrow-bodied skink or narrow skink, is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. Only the holotype specimen (AIM Rep 31.1) is known, collected before 1955 on the North Island of New Zealand, probably in the vicinity of the Hokianga; it is possibly a juvenile. If so, this species could be the kawekaweau or kaweau (sometimes written koeau) of Māori lore, which by others is identified with a tuatara though its description does not match the tuatara well.(Hardy 1977)
Classified as "data deficient" by the IUCN (ARAG 1996), the New Zealand Department of Conservation treats it as extinct.
References
Oligosoma gracilicorpus Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA