http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 095903.htm

How sad. They taste great when roasted over lava on a bamboo skewer. Guess I'll have to survive on turtle eggs instead.

The species isn't extinct, only the Hawaiian Islands population (which is bad enough), is that right?

JimM

I've read the linked article above, concerning the "extinction" of the Azure-tailed Skink in Hawaii. The article also refers to the species as "native to the Hawaiian Islands". They are neither extinct nor native. Other than sea turtles and Sea Snakes, there are no indigenous reptile species in the Hawaiian Islands. Many would like to believe that Emoia traversed large expanses of the Pacific en route to Hawaii via 'land rafts.' This assertion is not only dubious, but IMO blatantly false. Though it does illustrate the damage that invasive sp. can cause in a fragile island ecosystem, this 'victim' is in fact an invasive itself. The first description of Emoia impar in Hawaii was in 1901. Most likely introduced as 'hitchhikers' in non-native plant shipments from Southern Polynesia.

Native Hawaiians, myself included, have strong cultural and religious attachments to lizards. The gecko in particular (specifically Lepidodactylus lugubrious (Mourning Gecko) ). These geckos were introduced to Hawaii by Polynesian voyagers centuries ago, and are one of the only species in Hawaii which could be described as indigenous... even that would be stretching the designation of 'indigenous' or 'native'.

Thanks, El Garia. Your response clarifies much of what puzzled me about the article.

JimM

Note- 3 additional sp. of Hawaiian Geckos are believed to have arrived with the early Polynesian voyagers: Tree Gecko (Hemiphyllodactylus typus), the Indo-Pacific Gecko (Hemidactylus garnoti) and the Stump-toed Gecko (Gehyra mutilata).

There are also 2 skink species believed to pre-date European arrival: Moth Skink (Lipinia n. noctua) and the Snake-eyed Skink (Cryptoblepharus poecilopleurus)

*typo correction on the Mourning Gecko: Lepidodactylus lugubris. Not lugubrious!

I was wondering about that when I read the article, as I didn't think there were ANY native terrestrial reptiles in Hawaii.

I had understood that a species of Blind Snake is endemic, but so rarely seen as to not ever be thought of.

The Bramian Blind Snake or Island Blind Snake as it is called here in Hawaii was first noticed in the 1930's in Honolulu and was thought to have arrived in soil in potted palm trees from the Philippines. I live as about as far as you can get from Honolulu (about 200 miles) and still be in Hawaii. I can easily find several when I go looking for them. They are usually found under previously disturbed rock. It amazed me that in just 50 years or less they were able to travel that distance, so I somewhat thought they may have arrived with the Polynesians around 700-800 AD. However, after learning that they were parthenogenic, that made the theory of recent introduction with rapid expansion more plausible.Art

If you read the Abstract ( http://journals.cambridge.org/action/di ... 5310001778 ) you will see that this report is about an "extinction" event that occurred almost 100 years ago. That's cutting edge scientific news!

So I can legitimately say I recently photographed an animal that was reported to have been extinct for over a century!



It wasn't Hawaii, but extinct is extinct! Just another example of the deep understanding of biology held by members of the USGS.

Couldn't we just call it 'exo-extinction' and do away with the use of extirpation in these cases?

Case solved......The USGS is too boxed to be capable of neo-logisms. I hear they pay much better than average though. Let's fire Fisher and his frenchie counterpart

Shane