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The Great Skink Migration

A doctoral research project may help clear up a question that has bothered New Zealand herpetologists -- did the country's skinks arrive en masse or did they raft across the Tasman in several waves of migration millions of years ago?

Robert Hickson is looking at the genetic material of skinks to determine how closely related various skink species are. He extracts DNA and uses a technique known as polymerase chain reaction to isolate and copy the genetic sequences. The more closely related species are, the more genetic sequences they have in common.

The technique has already been used to show that one Otago skink population actually consists of three separate species which live in the same region but which haven't interbred for a long time. The discovery has important implications for management of New Zealand's many endangered skink species.

"If a species isn't described, it's not protected, " says Hickson. His three-year project may identify other species of skink not previously recognised, as well as providing some answers as to when skinks came to New Zealand.