''Alinea'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. S ...

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...

. This genus may be extinct, as one species, ''A. luciae'', is considered extinct by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

, while the other, ''A. lanceolata'', is also feared extinct due to the lack of recent sightings, although potential refuges may exist. However, there is some controversy over whether ''Alinea'' is a separate genus or synonymous with ''

Mabuya ''Mabuya'' is a genus of long-tailed skinks restricted to species from various Caribbean islands. They are primarily carnivorous, though many are omnivorous. The genus is viviparous, having a highly evolved placenta that resembles that of euthe ...

''. If it is distinct, introduced predators like the

Javan mongoose The Javan mongoose (''Urva javanica'') is a mongoose species native to Southeast Asia. Taxonomy ''Ichneumon javanicus'' was the scientific name proposed by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1818. It was later classified in the genus '' Herpest ...

may have contributed to this genus's extinction.

Species

The following 2

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

, listed alphabetically by specific name, are recognized as being valid: *'' Alinea lanceolata'' (Cope, 1862) – Barbados skink (possibly extinct) *'' Alinea luciae'' (Garman, 1887) – Saint Lucia skink ( extinct) ''

Nota bene (, or ; plural form ) is a Latin phrase meaning "note well". It is often abbreviated as NB, n.b., or with the ligature and first appeared in English writing . In Modern English, it is used, particularly in legal papers, to draw the atte ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Alinea''.

References

Lizard genera Taxa named by Stephen Blair Hedges Taxa named by Caitlin E. Conn {{Skink-stub