Falla's skink or the Three Kings skink (''Oligosoma fallai'') is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
lizard
Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most oceanic island chains. The group is paraphyletic since it excludes the snakes and Amphisbaenia alt ...
in the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
Scincidae.
Etymology
The
specific name, ''fallai'', is in honor of
New Zealander
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
Robert Falla
Sir Robert Alexander Falla (21 July 1901 – 23 February 1979) was a New Zealand museum administrator and ornithologist.
Early life
Falla was born in Palmerston North in 1901 to George Falla and his wife, Elizabeth Kirk. As his father was wor ...
.
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Oligosoma fallai'', p. 88).]
Geographic range
''O. fallai'' is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the
Three Kings Islands
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...
off the coast of New Zealand. It is found nowhere else in the world.
References
Further reading
*
McCann C (1955). "The lizards of New Zealand. Gekkonidae and Scincidae". ''Dominion Mus. Bull.'' (17): 1–127. (''Leiolopisma fallai'', new species, pp. 76–77).
Oligosoma
Reptiles described in 1955
Taxa named by Charles McCann
Reptiles of New Zealand
Three Kings Islands
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Lygosominae-stub