''Emoia impar'', also known as the dark-bellied copper-striped skink, or the azure-tailed skink is a species of

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...

that is widespread in the Pacific, especially

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

and

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of about 2,000 small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: the Philippines to the west, Polynesia to the east, and ...

. While common throughout its range, it is threatened by habitat loss,

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

, and

sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...

due to

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. It is also a

naturalized species Naturalisation (or naturalization) is the ecological phenomenon through which a species, taxon, or population of exotic (as opposed to native) origin integrates into a given ecosystem, becoming capable of reproducing and growing in it, and procee ...

in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

, most likely introduced by the Polynesians, but has been almost entirely extirpated from there, possibly as a result of the invasive big-headed ant. It disappeared from most islands by the early 20th century, persisting on the Na Pali Coast of Kaua'i until the 1960s. Alleged sightings on Kaua'i up to the 1990s were found to have been an introduced population of '' E. cyanura'' that was introduced in the 1970s and persisted for up to 2 decades. While some studies have claimed that it has been entirely extirpated from Hawaii, it actually still persists on the offshore islet of Mōkapu,

Molokai Molokai , or Molokai (), is the fifth most populated of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian Islands archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is 38 by 10 miles (61 by 16 km) at its greatest length an ...

, where it has a stable population. It was seen on the big island of Hawaii, in the Kalapana area, in September, 2021. Although some sources claim ''E. impar'' to be a native species to Hawaii based on the presence of a single fossil bone, analysis of the sediments the bone was found in indicates it to have a comparatively recent origin. The species was noted to have an extremely dense and thriving population on Flint Island, whos damp palm jungle creates the perfect habitat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q672009 impar Reptiles described in 1898 Taxa named by Franz Werner Fauna of American Samoa Fauna of the Cook Islands Fauna of the Federated States of Micronesia Reptiles of Fiji Fauna of French Polynesia Reptiles of Hawaii Fauna of the Marshall Islands Reptiles of Papua New Guinea Fauna of Samoa Reptiles of the Solomon Islands Fauna of Tonga Reptiles of Vanuatu