Evolution, diversity and interactions with past human populations of recently extinct <i>Pholidoscelis</i> lizards (Squamata: Teiidae) from the Guadeloupe Islands (French West-Indies)

This paper aims to demonstrate how subfossil bone remains from Pleistocene and Holocene deposits can help to reconstruct the history of recently extinct taxa through the example of <i>Pholidoscelis</i> lizards from the Guadeloupe Islands in the French West Indies. To achieve this, we conducted a new anatomical and zooarchaeological study of fossil <i>Pholidoscelis</i> remains collected from 23 archaeological and paleontological deposits on the Guadeloupe Islands from which this genus is nowadays absent. Our results shed light on the past existence of large <i>Pholidoscelis</i> lizards on all the Guadeloupe islands but also on the difficulties of confident specific identification for these remains. Nevertheless, we suggest a possible past occurrence of the now extinct <i>Pholidoscelis major</i> on nearly all of the Guadeloupe islands. In addition, we identified a new <i>Pholidoscelis</i> species, <i>Pholidoscelis turukaeraensis</i> sp. nov., on Marie-Galante Island, where no <i>Pholidoscelis</i> lizards were previously reported. This new species underwent an increase in size after the end of the Pleistocene period, possibly due to reduced predation pressure. We also highlight the consumption of <i>Pholidoscelis</i> lizards by pre-Columbian Amerindians and the huge impact of European colonization, which led to the extinction of all these lizards in less than 300 years.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:15C39436-A083-483F-B35E-78807B606904