Chioninia coctei Duméril & Bibron, 1839
Cape Verde giant skink, Cocteau's skink, Lagarto, Bibron’s skink, Cocteau's lizard
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Charactodon coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839); Euprepes coctei Duméril & Bibron, 1839; Gongylus coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839); Macroscincus coctaei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839) [orth. error]; Macroscincus coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839)
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: 1912 (Vasconcelos, 2021)
IUCN RedList status: Extinct
Distribution
Brancho Island and Razo Island, Cape Verde Islands
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Holotype: MNHN 8299 (Miralles et al., 2011)
Type locality: "Côte d'Afrique" (Miralles et al., 2011)
Other specimens:
MNHN 1884-148 (Miralles et al., 2011)
MNHN 1884-227 (Miralles et al., 2011)
MNHN 1884-228 (Miralles et al., 2011)
MNHN 1884-229 (Miralles et al., 2011)
MNHN 1884-231 (Miralles et al., 2011)
MNHN 1884-233 (Miralles et al., 2011)
MNHN 1884-236 (Miralles et al., 2011)
MNHN 1884-237 (Miralles et al., 2011)
MNHN 1906-295 (Miralles et al., 2011)
MNHN 1987-941 (Miralles et al., 2011)
BMNH 91.9.24.1 (Miralles et al., 2011; see photographs below)
BMNH 91.9.24.2 (Miralles et al., 2011; see photograph below)
Media
Above: published in França (1908). Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Above: BMNH 91.9.24.1 and BMNH 91.9.24.2. ©1984 Simon Tonge. Reproduced with permission.
Above: BMNH 91.9.24.1. ©1984 Simon Tonge. Reproduced with permission.
Above: BMNH 91.9.24.1. ©1984 Simon Tonge. Reproduced with permission.
References
Original scientific description:
Duméril, A. M. C. and Bibron, G. (1839). Erpétologie générale ou histoire naturelle complète des reptiles, Vol. 5. 855pp., Paris (Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret).
Other references:
Andreone, Franco. (2000). Herpetological observations on Cape Verde: a tribute to the Italian naturalist Leonardo Fea, with complementary notes on Macroscincus coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839) (Squamata: Scincidae). Herpetozoa 13: 15-26.
Andreone, Franco and Gavetti, E. (1998). Some remarkable specimens of the giant Cape Verde skink, Macroscincus coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839), with notes about its distribution and causes of its possible extinction. Italian Journal of Zoology 65: 413-422.
Andreone, Franco and Guarano, Fabio M. (2003). Giant and long-lived? Age structure in Macroscincus coctei, an extinct skink from Cape Verde. Amphibia-Reptilia 24: 459-470.
Bocage, J. V. (1873a). Notice sur l’habitat et les caractères du Macroscincus coctei (Euprepes Coctei, Dum. et Bibr.). Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, 16, 1–12 [Reprinted in J. Zool., 3, 1–15 with a figure in pp. 16].
Bocage, J. V. (1873b). Notice sur l'habitat de l'Euprepes coctei, Dum. et Bibr. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1873: 703-704.
Böhme, Wolfgang, Schleich, Hermann, Wipfler, Benjamin and Koppetsch, Thore. (2022). On the dentition of the Cape Verdean endemic lizard genus Chioninia Gray, 1845, with a discussion of ecological implications in the giant species C. coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839). Spixiana 45(1): 131-144.
Ceríaco, Luís M. P. (2012). From Cape Verde to the Netherlands via Portugal and France: the journey of an early specimen of the giant skink Chioninia coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839). Zoologia Caboverdiana 3(2): 74-81.
Ceríaco, Luís M. P. (2014). History of the iconic giant skink, pp. 81-107. In: Vasconcelos, R., Freitas, R. and Hazevoet, C. J. (eds.). Cabo Verde.The Natural History of the Desertas Islands – Santa Luzia, Branco and Raso. São Vicente: Sociedade Caboverdiana de Zoologia.
Day, David. (1981). The Doomsday Book of Animals: A Natural History of Vanished Species. New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press.
França, C. (1908). Le Professeur Barbosa du Bocage. Boletim da Sociedade Portuguesa de Ciências Naturais 2: 141-194.
Greer, A. E. (1976). On the evolution of the giant Cape Verde scincid lizard Macroscincus coctei. Journal of Natural History 10: 691-712.
Hazevoet, C.J. 1994. Status and conservation of seabirds in the Cape Verde Islands. In: D.N. Nettleship, J. Burger and M. Gochfeld (eds), Seabirds on Islands: Threats, case studies and action plans, pp. 279-293. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.
Hutchinson, Mark. (1989). A Skeletal Specimen of the Giant Skink Macroscincus coctei in the American Musuem of Natural History. Copeia 1989(2): 492-494. [Abstract]
Joger, U. (1993). On two collections of reptiles and amphibians from the Cape Verde islands, with descriptions of three new taxa. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 159: 437-444.
Mateo, J.A., Garcĺa-Márquez, M., López-Jurado, L.F. and Pether, J. 1997. Nuevas Observaciones Herpetológicas en las Islas Desertas (Archipelago de Cabo Verde). Boletín de la Asociación Herpetológica Española 8: 8-11.
Mateo, J.A., López-Jurado, L.F. and García-Márquez, M. (2005). Primeras evidencias de la supervivencia del Escinco Gigante de Cabo Verde Macroscincus coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839). Boletín de la Asociación Herpetológica 15: 73-75.
Miralles, A., Vasconcelos, R., Perera, A., Harris, D. J. and Carranza, S. (2011). An integrative taxonomic revision of the Cape Verdean skinks (Squamata, Scincidae). Zoologica Scripta 40(1): 16-44.
Peracca, M.G. (1891). Osservazioni sul Macroscincus coctaei Dum. e Bibr. Boll. Mus. Zool. Anat. comp. R. Univ. Torino 6(107): 1-5.
Pether, Jim. (2003). In search of Macroscincus coctei. Reptiles Magazine 11(4): 70-81.
Pinho CJ, Roca V, Perera A, Sousa A, Bruni M, Miralles A, et al. (2022). Digging in a 120 years-old lunch: What can we learn from collection specimens of extinct species? PLoS ONE 17(7): e0270032. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270032
Regalado, Pedro Galán. (2015). Los Anfibios y Reptiles Extinguidos: Herpetofauna Desaparecida Desde el Año 1500. Monografías de la Universidade da Coruña 155: 1-509.
Roca, V. et al. (2020). What can we learn from the parasitic nematode fauna of the Extinct giant skink of Cabo Verde? Poster presentation.
Schleich, H.H. 1982. Letze Nachforschungen zum Kapverdischen Riesenskinks, Macroscincus coctei (Dúmeril &Bibron 1839) (Reptilia: Sauria: Scincidae). Salamandra 18((1/2)): 78-85.
Schleich, H.H. 1987. Herpetofauna caboverdiana. Spixiana Suppl. 12: 1-75.
Schleich, H.H. 1996. Lista vermelha para os répteis (Reptilia). In: T. Leyens and W. Lobin (eds), Primeira Lista Vermelha de Cabo Verde, pp. 122-125. Frankfurt.
Schnirel, Brian L. (2004). SENI biometric analysis on the extinct Scincidae species: Macroscincus coctei. Polyphemos 1(2): 12-22.
Vaillant, L. (1882). Sur les Macroscincus coctei, D.B., récemment arrivés à la ménagerie du Muséum d'Histoire naturelle. Acad. Sci. Compt. Rend. 94: 811-812.
Vasconcelos, R. (2013a). Chioninia coctei. In: IUCN 2013. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 14 July 2013.
Vasconcelos, R. (2013b). Chioninia coctei. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T13152363A13152374. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T13152363A13152374.en. Downloaded on 26 June 2021.
Vasconcelos, R. (2021). Chioninia coctei (amended version of 2013 assessment). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T13152363A207442561. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T13152363A207442561.en. Accessed on 12 June 2022.
Vasconcelos, R., Brito, J.C., Carranza, S. and Harris, D.J. (2013). Review of the distribution and conservation status of the terrestrial reptiles of the Cape Verde. Oryx 47: 77-87.
World Conservation Monitoring Centre. (1996). Macroscincus coctei. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 12 December 2012.
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