The skink genus Lobulia is endemic to New Guinea, the largest and highest tropical island in the world. Lobulia and its related genera represent an important component of the montane herpetofauna of New Guinea, but it remains understudied and poorly known. We here provide the first, large-scale, systematic revision of Lobulia, using molecular phylogenetic and morphological comparisons to assess the monophyly of the genus and the diversity of species within it. We find that Lobulia, as currently defined, is polyphyletic. The eight species currently assigned to it form three clades. Furthermore, many specimens from New Guinea of unknown specific affinity are genetically and morphologically distinct from each other. Based on these data, we re-diagnose Lobulia and two of its closely related genera, Prasinohaema and Papuascincus. We erect four new genera (Alpinoscincus gen. nov., Nubeoscincus gen. nov., Ornithuroscincus gen. nov. and Palaia gen. nov.) to address the problem of polyphyly and describe nine new species Lobulia fortis sp. nov., Lobulia huonensis sp. nov., Loublia marmorata sp. nov., Lobulia vogelkopensis sp. nov., Ornithuroscincus bengaun sp. nov., Ornithuroscincus inornatus sp. nov., Ornithuroscincus pterophilus sp. nov., Ornithuroscincus shearmani sp. nov. and Ornithuroscincus viridis sp. nov. We supplement this taxonomic revision by investigating the biogeographic history of Lobulia s.l. and find evidence for a large radiation in the accreted terranes of New Guinea, with multiple independent colonizations of montane habitats and subsequent recolonization of lowland habitats. Our study reinforces the uniqueness and richness of the montane herpetofauna of New Guinea and the importance of mountains to biodiversity in the Tropics.

中文翻译：

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修订山地新几内亚石龙子属 Lobulia (Squamata: Scincidae)，描述了 4 个新属和 9 个新种

石龙子属 Lobulia 是世界上最大和最高的热带岛屿新几内亚的特有种。Lobulia 及其相关属是新几内亚山地爬虫的一个重要组成部分，但它仍然未被充分研究且鲜为人知。我们在这里提供了 Lobulia 的第一个大规模系统修订，使用分子系统发育和形态学比较来评估该属的单一性和其中物种的多样性。我们发现目前定义的 Lobulia 是多系的。目前分配给它的八个物种形成三个分支。此外，来自新几内亚的许多具有未知特定亲和力的标本在遗传和形态上彼此不同。根据这些数据，我们重新诊断 Lobulia 及其密切相关的两个属，Prasinohaema 和 Papuascincus。我们建立了四个新属（Alpinoscincus gen. nov.、Nubeoscincus gen. nov.、Ornithuroscincus gen.nov. 和 Palaia gen. nov.）来解决多系问题并描述了九个新物种 Lobulia fortis sp。十一月，Lobulia huonensis sp。十一月，Loublia marmorata sp。十一月，Lobulia vogelkopensis sp。十一月，Ornithuroscincus bengaun sp。十一月，Ornithuroscincus inornatus sp。十一月，Ornithuroscincus pterophilus sp。十一月，Ornithuroscincus Shermani sp。十一月 和 Ornithuroscincus viridis sp。十一月 我们通过调查 Lobulia sl 的生物地理历史来补充这一分类修订，并在新几内亚的增生地体中发现大量辐射的证据，其中有多个独立的山地栖息地殖民化和随后的低地栖息地重新殖民化。