The Cape Verde giant skink (''Chioninia coctei''), also called Bibron's skink, Cocteau's skink, and ''lagarto'' in
Cape Verdean Portuguese
Cape Verdean Portuguese () is the dialect of Portuguese spoken in Cape Verde.
Status
While Cape Verdean Creole is the mother tongue of nearly all the population in Cape Verde, Portuguese is the official language. Creole is, therefore, us ...
, is a recently
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of large
lizard
Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...
(
skink
Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...
) that was
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...
to some of the
Barlavento Islands
Cape Verde (formally, the Republic of Cabo Verde) is a group of arid Atlantic islands which are home to distinct communities of plants, birds, and reptiles.
Location and description
The Cape Verde Islands are located in the mid-Atlantic Ocean ...
of
Cape Verde
Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...
before disappearing in the 20th century.
Taxonomy

The Cape Verde giant skink was first given the
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
''
Euprepes coctei'' by
French zoologists
This is a list of notable zoologists who have published names of new taxa under the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.
A
* Abe – Tokiharu Abe (1911–1996)
* Abeille de Perrin, Ab. – Elzéar Abeille de Perrin (1843–1910)
* ...
André Marie Constant Duméril
André Marie Constant Duméril (1 January 1774 – 14 August 1860) was a French zoologist. He was professor of anatomy at the National Museum of Natural History (France), Muséum national d'histoire naturelle from 1801 to 1812, when he became pr ...
and
Gabriel Bibron
Gabriel Bibron (20 October 1805 – 27 March 1848) was a French zoologist and herpetologist. He was born in Paris. The son of an employee of the Museum national d'histoire naturelle, he had a good foundation in natural history and was ...
in 1839. The
holotype
A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...
was a preserved specimen at the
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, one of five collected in 1784 by
João da Silva Feijó
João da Silva Barbosa or João da Silva Feijó, (1760 in Rio de Janeiro – 1824), was a naturalist, mineralogist and Portuguese soldier, born in Brazil.
João da Silva Feijó studied philosophy and mathematics at the University of Coimbra and ad ...
in
Ilhéu Branco, taken to
Ajuda
Ajuda () is a ''freguesia'' (civil parish) and district of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Ajuda is located in western Lisbon, northeast of Belém and west of Alcântara. The population in 2011 was 15,617.[Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...]
, and
looted
Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
by the
Napoleonic Army in 1808.
[Mateo, J. A., Barone, R., Hernández-Acosta, C. N., & López-Jurado, L. F. (2020) La muerte anunciada de dos gigantes macaronésicos: el gran escinco caboverdiano, Chioninia coctei (Duméril & Bibron, 1839) y el lagarto de Salmor, Gallotia simonyi (Steindachner, 1889). ''Bol. Asoc. Herpetol. Esp.'' Vol. 31 (2), pgs. 3-30.] The name ''coctei'' honors French
physician
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
and zoologist
Jean-Théodore Cocteau
Jean-Théodore Cocteau (1798–1838) was a French herpetologist, who was associated with André Marie Constant Duméril, Duméril, Georges Cuvier, Cuvier, and Gabriel Bibron, Bibron, and corresponded with other workers in zoology around the world. ...
(1798–1838). Since Duméril and Bibron ignored the history of the specimen, they listed its origin as "the coast of
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
" and the species remained in obscurity until it was rediscovered in 1873 by Cape Verdean doctor Frederico Hopffer.
Portuguese zoologist
José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage
José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage (2 May 1823 – 3 November 1907) was a Portuguese zoologist, politician, and professor. He served as a professor of zoology and director of the National Museum of Natural History and Science, Lisbon, National Museu ...
assigned the species to its own monotypic genus, ''Macroscincus'' (lit. "large skink").
In 2001, a
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...
study nested ''Macroscincus'' within a group of several Cape Verdean skink species assigned to the
wastebasket genus ''
Mabuya
''Mabuya'' is a genus of long-tailed skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae. The genus is restricted to species from various Caribbean islands. Out of 26 recognized species, six species are only found in Caribbean islands. Species in the genus ...
'', suggesting a common origin in
West Africa
West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
during the
Late Miocene
The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene epoch (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stages. The Tortonian and Messinian stages comprise the Late Miocene sub-epoch, which lasted from 11.63 Ma (million ye ...
or
Early Pliocene
Early may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Early, Iowa, a city
* Early, Texas, a city
* Early Branch, a stream in Missouri
* Early County, Georgia
* Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort
Music
* Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...
, dispersal to Cape Verde and subsequent
adaptive radiation
In evolutionary biology, adaptive radiation is a process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, alters biotic int ...
. The phylogeny of ''Mabuya'' was resolved in 2016, placing Cape Verdean skinks in the genus ''
Chioninia'', establishing ''
Trachylepis
''Trachylepis'' is a skink genus in the subfamily Mabuyinae found mainly in Africa. Its members were formerly included in the " wastebin taxon" '' Mabuya'', and for some time in '' Euprepis''. As defined today, ''Trachylepis'' contains the clad ...
'' of Africa and
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
as its sister genus, and limiting ''Mabuya'' to the
Neotropics
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In biogeog ...
.
[Karin, B. R., Metallinou, M., Weinell, J. L., Jackman, T. R., & Bauer, A. M. (2016). Resolving the higher-order phylogenetic relationships of the circumtropical Mabuya group (Squamata: Scincidae): An out-of-Asia diversification. ''Molecular phylogenetics and evolution'', 102, 220-232.]
Description
The Cape Verde giant skink was
very large and robust compared to other skink species. Adults could attain a
snout-to-vent length (SVL) of .
The tail was less than half the length of the body.
[ It was described as ]prehensile
Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely derived from a number of different origin ...
and powerful, well adapted to climb trees, which surprised 19th century scientists who only knew Cape Verde giant skinks from denuded, arid islets. However, other authors noted that the species was capable of autotomy
Autotomy (from the Greek ''auto-'', "self-" and ''tome'', "severing", αὐτοτομία) or 'self-amputation', is the behaviour whereby an animal sheds or discards an appendage, usually as a self-defense mechanism to elude a predator's grasp ...
, which would be contradictory for a prehensile tail. The long digits, equivalent to a SENI ( Scincidae Ecological Niche Index) value of 0.13, are consistent with a low canopy arboreal niche.[
The teeth were located labiolingually, compressed, multicuspidate,] pleurodontid and pterygoid.[
There were three color morphs: grey, yellow, and intermediate. There was no banding but the body had dark stippled blotches and freckles with a yellow green-grey standard background. The underside was largely devoid of freckles, with a solid color lighter than the back. Dorsal scales were small and keeled in more than one hundred rows at the midsection but the osteodermal covering was less developed than in other skinks. The lower eyelid had a unique transparent "window" below.][
Males reached their maximum size quicker than females, had a larger head, more robust jaws, and longer hindlegs. Older males had thick, hanging dewlaps that are unusual for skinks.][
]
Distribution
Subfossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
remains of Cape Verde giant skink were found in the northwestern islands of São Vicente and Santa Luzia, and the islets Branco and Raso, which along with the smaller islet Pássaros were united into the paleoisland "Mindelo" during the colder stages of the Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
. Testimonies of local fishermen also place giant skinks in São Nicolau island, but this remains unproven. São Nicolau was not connected by land to other islands during the Pleistocene.
Behaviour and ecology
The behavior of the Cape Verde giant skink is largely unknown due to the lack of ethology
Ethology is a branch of zoology that studies the behavior, behaviour of non-human animals. It has its scientific roots in the work of Charles Darwin and of American and German ornithology, ornithologists of the late 19th and early 20th cen ...
studies before its extinction, though convergent evolution
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...
has been noted with two extant species: the African striped skink (''Trachylepis striata'') from southern and eastern Africa
East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...
, adapted to a low canopy arboreal niche, and Vaillant's mabuya (''Chioninia vaillanti''), another large, herbivorous
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...
skink that is endemic to the southern Sotavento Islands
Cape Verde (formally, the Republic of Cabo Verde) is a group of arid Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic islands which are home to distinct communities of plants, birds, and reptiles.
Location and description
The Cape Verde Islands are located in the mid ...
of Cape Verde.
The transparent lower eyelid may have been an adaptation to spot predators below while giant skinks slept on the lower canopy with their eyes closed. In that case the predator's extinction would have long preceded the Cape Verde giant skink's own. The need of light for this strategy would indicate that the giant skink was crepuscular
In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...
and slept during the day. The barn owl
The barn owls, owls in the genus '' Tyto'', are the most widely distributed genus of owls in the world. They are medium-sized owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long, strong legs with powerful talons. The ter ...
is known to have eaten skinks before and after human arrival. The unusual dewlap of old males could have played some role in territoriality.
The Cape Verde giant skink's long digestive track, abundant and varied helminthic community, and specialized dentition were well suited for a vegetarian diet. Although most animals died early in captivity, some survived for years on a diet of fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
and vegetation. One was noted as eating a bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
. In Branco and Raso which are largely denuded of vegetation, the giant skinks adapted to live among large shearwater
Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season.
Description
These tube ...
and petrel
Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes.
Description
Petrels are a monophyletic group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses". Petrels enco ...
colonies and survived eating their regurgitations, feces, carrion
Carrion (), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals.
Overview
Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...
, egg
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...
s, and hatchling
In oviparous biology, a hatchling is a newly hatched fish, amphibian, reptile, or bird. A group of mammals called monotremes lay eggs, and their young are hatchlings as well.
Fish
Fish hatchlings generally do not receive parental care, similar t ...
s. Bones of skinks and seabirds are commonly found mixed together.
Preserved giant skinks have belly-button slits indicative of viviparous
In animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the mother, with the maternal circulation providing for the metabolic needs of the embryo's development, until the mother gives birth to a fully or partially developed juve ...
matrotrophy
Matrotrophy is a form of maternal care during organism development, associated with live birth (viviparity), in which the embryo of an animal or flowering plant is supplied with additional nutrition from the mother (e.g. through a placenta). This ...
, yet a captive female was documented as laying a clutch of seven eggs over fifteen days in 1891, purely white colored and 1 1/2 inch
The inch (symbol: in or prime (symbol), ) is a Units of measurement, unit of length in the imperial units, British Imperial and the United States customary units, United States customary System of measurement, systems of measurement. It is eq ...
es in diameter. Other eggs are preserved at the Regional Museum of Turin
Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
. It is possible that the species used both modes of reproduction, like the sheen skink ('' Eugongylus albofasciolatus''), where the same female was documented alternating between them.
The species was very tame in captivity, and probably was long lived and reproduced slowly, like other island reptiles.
Extinction
The "Mindelo" island broke up when sea levels rose at the end of the Pleistocene, fragmenting the Cape Verde giant skink's population. The local climate also became more arid in the Holocene
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
, replacing the primitive forest with shrub
A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
. Denudation increased after the Portuguese arrived in 1461, cut down the remaining tamarisk trees for firewood and construction, and introduced goat
The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a species of Caprinae, goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the ...
s that ate the other vegetation. They also introduced mice
A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
, cat
The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...
s, and dog
The dog (''Canis familiaris'' or ''Canis lupus familiaris'') is a domesticated descendant of the gray wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it was selectively bred from a population of wolves during the Late Pleistocene by hunter-gatherers. ...
s, that ravaged the seabird colonies. Historical landfills show that settlers ate skinks themselves, but only occasionally and more rarely than seabirds. Examined owl pellets in Santa Luzia commonly contain skink bones before settlement, but lack any more recent than 1673, evidencing that they had become very rare in the island by then.
Giant skinks survived for longer in Branco and Raso, as they were not settled and remained free of introduced mammals. In 1783, Feijó wrote that the inhabitants of the Islands used the skins of Branco lizards to make shoes. Their fat was also used as medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
. According to an elderly resident interviewed by Hopffer, around 1833 a drought
A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...
-induced famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food caused by several possible factors, including, but not limited to war, natural disasters, crop failure, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenom ...
struck Cape Verde and the government cut expenses by marooning
Marooning is the intentional act of abandoning someone in an uninhabited area, such as a desert island, or more generally (usually in passive voice) to be marooned is to be in a place from which one cannot escape. The word is attested in 1699, and ...
thirty prisoners from Santo Antão in Branco, who survived by eating fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
and skinks. This story is often quoted in sources discussing the giant skink's extinction, but is questioned by some authors because Branco has no freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...
sources.
The rediscovery of the species, its rarity, large size and tameness drove up the demand of specimens for European museum
A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
s, zoo
A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility where animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes.
The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoology, ...
s, and collectionists. In 1874 vulcanologist Alphons Stübbel discovered the Raso population. In 1890, the wildlife traffickers Thomas Castle and José Oliveira captured up to two hundred skinks in Branco and sold them in England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. The Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
herpetologist
Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...
Mario Giacinto Peracca bought 40 skinks in London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and held them for several years in his vivarium
A vivarium (; or vivariums) is an area, usually enclosed, for keeping and raising animals or plants for observation or research. Water-based vivaria may have open tops providing they are not connected to other water bodies. An animal enclosur ...
s of Chivasso
Chivasso (; ) is a communes of Italy, comune in the Metropolitan City of Turin, in the Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, located about northeast of Turin. Chivasso has a population of about 27,000. It is situated on the :wikt:left bank, left bank ...
near Turin, where he made important observations on the reproduction and nutrition of the species. By 1896 Bocage feared that the species was being driven to extinction and requested Francisco Newton of the Museum of Lisbon to not import any more giant skinks. Boyd Alexander
Lieutenant Boyd Alexander (16 January 1873 – 2 April 1910) was an English officer in the British Army, as well as an List of explorers, explorer and ornithologist.
Early life
Boyd was the oldest son (with a twin brother) of Lt Colonel Boyd ...
visited the islets in 1898 and noted that the giant skink was still common in Raso but had become very rare in Branco; Leonardo Fea
Leonardo Fea (Turin 24 July 1852 – Turin 27 April 1903) was an Italian explorer, zoologist, painter, and naturalist.
Biography
Fea was born in Turin, a son of Paolo Fea, who was professor of painting at Accademia Albertina, and Anna Roda. In ...
, who visited in the same year, found no skinks in Branco at all. However captures continued in Raso by Fea himself and by Francisco Newton in 1900 (who didn't give the collected skinks to the Museum, and perhaps sold them to private collectors). In 1902, Prince Albert I of Monaco set traps in Branco for a week before he captured the first of six specimens.
Despite Peracca's efforts, no breeding colony was successfully established in captivity. By the early 20th century it was commonly assumed that the extinction of the Cape Verde giant skink was imminent. Peracca offered a high sum to Newton for capturing as many skinks as he could, planning to release them in an islet near Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence.
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...
, but this never went through. In 1909 the entomologist
Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...
and botanist
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
Giacomo Cecconi claimed to have collected one individual in São Vicente, but this was deemed dubious by many. In 1915, an official of the Cape Verde colony wrote the Museum of Lisbon to inform that fishermen from Santo Antão had released some dogs in Raso and that they had quickly killed all skinks on the islet. Some animals survived in the possession of German and Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
zoos and collectionists even with the additional difficulties brought by World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and the interwar period
In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
, until the species was declared extinct in 1940. An individual was reportedly seen in Branco in 1985, but several expeditions in the 1990s failed to find any. 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 an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
classified it as extinct in 1996. In 2005, a juvenile jaw was claimed to have been found in feral cat droppings from Santa Luzia, but a 2006 survey of the island found no animals.
References
Further sources
* Adler GH, Austin CC, Dudley R
Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the 20 ...
(1995). "Dispersal and speciation of skinks among archipelagos in the tropical Pacific ocean". ''Evolutionary Ecology'' 9: 529–541.
*Austin CC (1995). "Molecular and morphological evolution in south Pacific scincid lizards: morphological conservatism and phylogenetic relationships of Papuan ''Lipinia'' (Scincidae)". ''Herpetologica'' 51: 291–300.
*Day, David (1979). ''Vanished Species''. London: Gallery Books. pp. 254–255.
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q615761
Reptile extinctions since 1500
Skinks of Africa
Vertebrates of Cape Verde
Chioninia
Reptiles described in 1839
Taxa named by André Marie Constant Duméril
Taxa named by Gabriel Bibron