Oligosoma gracilicorpus

Narrow-bodied skink
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Scincidae
Genus:	Oligosoma
Species:	O. gracilicorpus
Binomial name
Oligosoma gracilicorpus (Hardy, 1977)
Synonyms
Leiolopisma gracilicorpus Hardy, 1977

Oligosoma gracilicorpus, the narrow-bodied skink or narrow skink, is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. Only the holotype specimen (AIM Rep 31.1) is known, collected before 1955 on the North Island of New Zealand, probably in the vicinity of the Hokianga; it is possibly a juvenile. If so, this species could be the kawekaweau or kaweau (sometimes written koeau) of Māori lore, which by others is identified with a tuatara though its description does not match the tuatara well.(Hardy 1977)

Classified as "data deficient" by the IUCN (ARAG 1996), the New Zealand Department of Conservation treats it as extinct.

References

• Australasian Reptile & Amphibian Specialist Group (1996). "Oligosoma gracilicorpus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2006. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 10 Jul 2007.
• Hardy, Graham S. (1977): The New Zealand Scincidae (Reptilia: Lacertilia); a taxonomic and zoogeographic study. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 4: 221-325. PDF fulltext