The Open Bay Islands skink, Oligosoma taumakae, is a species of skink

Skink

Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...

 in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

. It is recently described from the small Open Bay Islands

Open Bay Islands

The Open Bay Islands are located off the south-west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The group comprises two main islands Taumaka and Popotai plus several smaller islets and rocks. They lie approximately offshore from the Okuru River mouth, near Haast and are owned by Poutini Ngai...

 off the west coast of the South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

 of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. This species is diagnosed on the basis of several morphological characteristics, and its specific status is supported by mitochondrial sequence data (ND2, ND4). The new species appears to be most closely related to Oligosoma acrinasum

Oligosoma acrinasum

The Fiordland skink, Oligosoma acrinasum, is a species of skink endemic to the Fiordland temperate forests ecoregion of South Island, New Zealand. The Fiordland skink is found on two mainland locations and the exposed rocky shores of numerous islands along the Fiordland coast . Their distribution...

, Oligosoma infrapunctatum, Oligosoma otagense and Oligosoma waimatense. The new taxon appears to be rare and endemic to the larger island of Taumaka. Predation by a flightless rail (weka

Weka

The Weka or woodhen is a flightless bird species of the rail family. It is endemic to New Zealand, where four subspecies are recognized. Weka are sturdy brown birds, about the size of a chicken. As omnivores, they feed mainly on invertebrates and fruit...

, Gallirallus australis, which is native to New Zealand but was introduced to the Open Bay Islands, is a major conservation concern.