Hawaiian Blue-Tailed Skink declared extinct
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The Blue-tailed Skink (Emoia impar) has been declared extinct in Hawaii after repeated attempts to locate specimens during field surveys from 1988 to 2002 failed. The last confirmed sighting was on the Na'Pali coast of the island of Kauai during the 1960s. The species is not wholly extinct, however, as there are still specimens in captivity and on other islands.
Research into the Blue-tailed Skink by Robert Parker of the US Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center and Ivan Ineich of the French Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle was published by Fauna and Flora International in the international conservation journal Oryx earlier this month. In it, Parker and Ineich speculated that predation by an invasive species of ant may be responsible for the extinction.
Commenting, U.S Geological Survey Director Marcia McNutt said "No other landscape in these United States has been more impacted by extinction events and species invasions in historic times than the Hawaiian Islands, with as yet unknown long-term cascading consequences to the ecosystem. Today, we close the book on one more animal that is unlikely to ever be re-established in this fragile island home."
