PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 108(3):395-400. 1995. A new skink (Emoia: Lacertilia: Reptilia) from the forest of Fiji George R. Zug and Ivan Ineich (GRZ) Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. 20560, U.S.A.; (II) Laboratoire des Reptiles et Amphibiens, Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, 25 rue Cuvier, 75005 Paris, France Abstract. —A moderate-sized turquoise-colored skink from the montane for-est of Vanua Levu, Fiji differs from all other central Pacific skinks in a com-bination of mensural and scalation characters. This skink, Emoia mokosari-niveikau n. sp., is a member of the Emoia samoensis species group and concolor subgroup, and its coloration and color pattern are unique among skinks of the genus Emoia. Vanua Levu is the second largest island of the Fijian group. In spite of its size and accessibility, no one has surveyed method-ically the diversity and distribution of its amphibians and reptiles. Forest lizards, such as Lepidodactylus manni and Emoia par-ked, should occur there, but no records exist of such occurrences (Zug 1991). We have begun such a survey, but as yet our efforts are small. Our first survey in 1992 provided new distributional records for a number of lizard species (e.g., Emoia parkeri) and yielded a single specimen of a new Emoia. Because this species is a forest lizard and the native forest of Vanua Levu continues to disappear, we wish to alert Fijians and biologists of this, presumably, Vanualevuan endemic by describing the lizard promptly. Forests, where they still persist, are threat-ened throughout Oceania, and the continual discovery of new species of forest plants and animals re-enforces the urgency of forest conservation and the establishment of for-est reserves. Methods Mensural and meristic characters follow the definitions and protocols of Zug (1991). Family Scincidae Genus Emoia Emoia mokosariniveikau, new species Figs. 1-2 Holotype. -USNM 322473, adult female from near Saivou, ca. 23 km (road) NW of Savusavu, Vanua Levu, Fiji, collected 23 October 1992 by I. Ineich and G. R. Zug. Diagnosis.— Emoia mokosariniveikau is a member of the samoensis group (sensu Brown 1991) and the concolor subgroup. It differs from other Fijian Emoia by: size of adult females (55 mm SVL), larger than ca-eruleocauda (42-50 mm), cyanura (39-53 mm), impar (40-47 mm) and parkeri (43-52 mm) and smaller than campbelli (57-64 mm), concolor (59-77 mm), nigra (88-108 mm) and trossula (75-100 mm); adult col-oration (coppery brown dorsal ground color overlain by turquoise on neck and trunk and dark transverse bars on sides of trunk onto back), caeruleocauda, cyanura, impar and parkeri (light stripes on black or dark brown background), campbelli and trossula (small dark transverse bars scattered over beige to brassy background), concolor (uniform or nearly so green to olive-beige ground-color), and nigra (uniform black ground-color); number of lamellae beneath the fourth toe
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