A significant range extension for the Western Soil-Crevice Skink Proablepharus reginae (Glauert 1960) and an updated reptile species list of Cape Range, Western Australia

Abstract

We describe a 226 km range extension for the known distribution of the Western Soil-Crevice Skink Proablepharus reginae in Western Australia. This record from Cape Range National Park is the first for this species on the North West Cape and within the Cape Range IBRA sub-region and marks the most westerly record of P. reginae for mainland Australia. This finding raises the terrestrial reptile species richness for the Cape Range peninsula to 90. Previous surveys in this area failed to detect P. reginae, which demonstrates the value of repeated surveys in documenting species richness in remote locations. Furthermore, we provide morphological and ecological data and discuss this record in the contexts of geographic variation and the high number of isolated reptile populations and endemism seen on the Cape Range peninsula.