Ophidiophile wrote:Politically, yes, Tanimbar is part of Indonesia. But if you look at where it is geographically, it lies in between the north coast of Australia (around Darwin) and the south coast of New Guinea (on the West Papuan/Irian Jayan side) but is just slightly closer to Australia. Apparently, Tanimbars share characteristics with BOTH scincoides (specifically, intermedia) and gigas. That's actually why it's given the subspecific designation 'chimaerea' which means 'mix'. When it was first discovered it was first described as gigas (and actually put in keyensis) but it was later moved to scincoides because it has just a bit more in common with scincoides (but only somewhat!)
Now here's a tantalizing little detail -- right next to Tanimbar is a tiny island called Baber that allegedly has "Tanimbars' (i.e., T. scincoides chimaerea) on it. It would be cool to see if they are exactly the same as the Tanimbars or vary somewhat in color or pattern (like the different color forms of keyensis). Right now I don't think we know because it seems no one goes to Baber Island. The collectors go to Tanimbar because it's bigger and they can catch more animals there. I'd really love to see what Baber Island BTS look like though -- maybe just exactly the same as Tanimbars, maybe not!
Great post. Very informative. I'm seriously into taxonomy.
Thanks.
