TANK 25, 1979

LIZARDS OBSERVED DURING A VISIT TO T H E C A V A L L I ISLANDS, DECEMBER 1978 TO JANUARY 1979

by R . A . Hitchmough Department of Zoology, University of Auckland, Private Bag, Auckland

S U M M A R Y

The lizards observed during a summer visit to the Cavalli Islands were recorded. No species new to the group as a whole were found, but new distribution records within the group include Hoplodactylus pacificus on Motukawanui and Te Anaputa Islands, and on a stack to the east of Te Anaputa; and Leiolopisma smithi on Piraunui, Whatupuke, and Whatupukeiti Islands and on nearby stacks.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

The Cavalli Islands lie to the east of northern New Zealand. Their geography is described by Hayward (1979), and previous observations of their lizard faunas are reviewed by Miller (1978).

During the present visit an attempt was made to survey as many islands as possible, particularly those not visited by previous workers. However, due to the large number of islands in the group, the following remain to my knowledge unsurveyed: Horonui, Motutapere, Tuturuowai, Takaroto Rock, Motutakupu, Haraweka, Te Haumi Rock, Te Toi , Kaitirehe Rock, Motumahanga, Te Karo, Motukeokeo, Motuhuia, and Motukahakaha.

Nomenclature in the present paper follows Hardy (1977) for skinks, except that the generic name Cyclodina is not used, and the name Leiolopisma ornatum is used sensu Robb (1977) for the species named Cyclodina aenea by Hardy (1977). Gecko nomenclature follows McCann (1955) except that Hoplodactylus pacificus and H. maculatus are distinguished as in Robb and Rowlands (1977).

M E T H O D S

A l l lizards were found by searching what appeared to be suitable habitats, and captures were made by hand. When representative samples were obtained, animals were weighed to the nearest 0.5g using a 0-30g spring balance, and their snout-vent length measured to the nearest millimetre with vernier calipers.

A subjective method of estimating population density was applied as described by Towns (1972) using a three point relative abundance scale based upon ease of capture:

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1. Abundant: animals were present in every suitable area searched. 2. Common: animals found fairly easily. 3. Uncommon: a few specimens found after much searching.

R E S U L T S

The distributions and relative abundance of lizard species observed dur­ing the present study or reported by Miller (1978) are shown in Table 1.

Hoplodactylus pacificus H. pacificus (Fig. 1) was recorded for the first time from Motukawanui

and Te Anaputa Islands, skins of this species were also found on one of the stacks to the east of Te Anaputa. A further Hoplodactylus slough found on Motuharakeke Island could have belonged either to this species or H. maculatus.

On Motukawanui Island, specimens and sloughs of H. pacificus were seen in the rockpiles figured by Miller (1978, Fig. l )as /V. maculatus habitat and also in hollow trees in the bush in Kikipaku Valley at the north-eastern corner of the island. On Te Anaputa the animals were found under clumps of vegetation growing over the rock above the intertidal area.

Three H. pacificus from Te Anaputa Island had snout-vent lengths of 73mm (male), 72mm and 64mm (females) and weighed 10, 12 and 7g respectively.

Leiolopisma moco L. moco were seen in the same rockpiles as H. pacificus on Motukawanui

Island, and also among flax on an old coastal rockfall at the northern end of Kikipaku Beach. A skink which appeared to be of this species was seen among flax and rushes near the shoreline of Whatupuke Island, but could not be captured for positive identification.

Leiolopisma smithi This was the most widespread lizard species on the Cavalli Island group.

On Motukawaiti, Panaki and Kahangaro Islands the populations were dense; on Motukawaiti they were very localised in wood piles near the house, probably due to a lack of suitable cover elsewhere around the coast of the island. On the remaining islands of the group only occasional individuals, or none at all, were recorded (Table 1).

On Motukawanui Island L. smithi were seen mainly early in the morning, and appeared to confine activity later in the day to shaded areas.

Two apparently gravid females captured on Motukawanui each weighed 5g and had snout-vent lengths of 60mm and 54mm respectively while two other animals weighed 2g and 4g, and measured 47mm and 53mm snout-vent.

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Fig. I. Hoplodactylus pacificus adult male, from Te Anaputa Island. Cavalli Group. Hitchmough — Lizards observed during a visit to the Cavalli Is.

A sample of L. smithi from Step Island (9 adults) had an average snout-vent length of 61.7 ± 5.6mm (range 58.6-67.2mm) and an average weight of 6.8 ± 3.2g (range 4-19g). A l l but two of these had regrown tails. Two juvenile animals from the same population each weighed 2g, and had snout-vent lengths of 44.8 and 41.9mm. These are likely to have been born the previous January-February and therefore would be almost one year old.

Most of the L. smithi seen were mid-brown in colour with a variety of black markings.

DISCUSSION

Fewer species were observed during the present trip than were found by Miller (1978) during one autumn and four spring trips. This is believed to be due to the high temperatures encountered during the present visit. Even L. smithi, normally a diurnal species, appeared to be showing semi-crepuscular activity patterns, and avoiding the heat of the day by confining activity mainly to shaded areas. Leiolopisma macgregori, L. ornatum, L. suteri, Hoplodactylus maculatus and H. duvauceli were not seen during the present visit—all are nocturnal species except for L. ornatum, which is crepuscular and very secretive. It is possible that these species moved to very deep daytime retreats to avoid the heat of the day. The only nocturnal species found was H. pacificus, and live specimens were seen much less often than

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Island Species

Island Leiolopisma macgregori

Leiolopisma ornatum

Leiolopisma suteri

Leiolopisma moco

Leiolopisma smithi

Hoplodactylus pacificus

Hoplodactylus maculatus

Hoplodactylus duvauceli

Hamaruru NS Panaki NS NS C NS Nukutaunga' NS NS Moturahurahu2

Motukaroro2

Te Anaputa NS A' NS Te Anaputaiti2 P' Motuharakeke NS NS NS NS NS NS NS Motumuka NS NS Tarawera2

Whatupuke2 ? Un !

Whatupukeiti Un !

Rocks between Whatupuke & Motukawaiti2 Un !

Motukawaiti C Kahangaro A Piraunui2 Un> Motukawanui NS Un Un Un NS NS

Table I. Table showing the distribution and relative abundance of lizard species in the Cavalli Islands. A—abundant. C—common. U n -uncommon. NS—previously reported but not seen on the present visit. P—present - sloughed skins collected but no animals seen. 1 — Not visited during the present trip. 1 — Not visited by previous workers. 3 — New record for Island.

were sloughed skins, which suggests that this species too, was for the most part retreating to deep cover during the daytime.

No species appears to be abundant on the Cavalli Islands as a whole, although L. smithi reaches high numbers on at least two islands, and is locally abundant on a third, and H. pacificus is abundant on at least one island (Table 1). In some cases this lack of overall abundance appears to be due to paucity of suitable habitats. In particular the beaches on the larger islands of the group are formed either of sand or shingle and mostly lack driftwood or loose boulders to provide cover for coastal species such as Leidopisma smithi, L. suteri and Hoplodactylus maculatus; and similarly the rocky coastal areas have rather poor development of herbaceous vegeta­tion such as Disphyma australe in the maritime zone. However Miller (pers. comm.) regards L. smithi as abundant and widespread on Molukawaiti and Motukawanui, and many of the smaller islands, and the season may have affected the apparent distribution observed during the present trip.

Kiore are very common on Motukawanui Island, while the other islands in the group are apparently free of introduced mammals, apart from domestic stock on Motukawaiti Island (Hitchmough 1980). Nevertheless, there are no marked differences between the lizard fauna of Motukawanui and the other islands. It may be that most of the islands are still recovering from the considerable disturbance which the vegetation indicates they have suffered in the past. During the present visit no lizards were seen on Motuharakeke Island, the least disturbed of the group, but more species have been reported on past visits from this island than from the others in the group (Table 1).

Both H. pacificus and / / . maculatus have been recorded from the Cavalli Group in the past (Miller 1978), but H. maculatus is the species recorded from both of the islands where H. pacificus was found during the present visit. On Motukawanui H. pacificus was found in the same habitat where Miller (1978) found H. maculatus, but Miller (pers. comm.) was possibly mistaken in his identification of the specimens from this island.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S

1 would like to thank the rest of the Offshore Island Research Group for making this trip possible, and very pleasant. Thanks to Miss J. Robb and Pal Miller for critically reading this manuscript.

REFERENCES

Hardy, G.S. 1977: The New Zealand Scincidae (Reptilia: Lacertilia); a taxonomic and zoogeographic study. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 413): 221-325.

Hayward, B.W. 1979: Cavalli Islands Trip, New Year 1978-1979. Introduction and Acknowledgements. Tone 25: (this issue).

Hitchmough, R.A. 1979: Kiore (Rallus exulans) on Motukawanui Island, Cavalli Group. Tone 26 (in press).

Miller, P.J. 1978: The Lizards of the Cavalli Islands, North-eastern New Zealand. Unpub-

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lished report to the Commissioner of Crown Lands, Auckland, and to Wildlife Service, Dept. of Internal Affairs.

Robb, J. 1977: A revision of the synonomy of three species of Leiolopismid skinks from New Zealand. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Zoology) 31: 303-10.

Robb, J. and Rowlands, R.P.V. 1977: Reinstatement of Hoplodactylus maculatus (Boulenger) with redescription of / / . pacificus (Gray) (Reptilia: Squamata: Gekkonidae). Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum 14: 133-142.

Towns, D.R. 1972: The reptiles of Red Mercury Island. Tane 18: 95-106.

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