Status and observations of the critically endangered Turks Island Skink (<i>Spondylurus turksae</i>)

The Turks Island Skink, Spondylurus turksae Hedges and Conn 2012, is endemic to the Turks Bank,Turks and Caicos Islands, at the southeastern terminus of the Lucayan Archipelago in the greater Caribbean region. AnInternational Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Assessment provided strong evidence that thespecies’ range declined precipitously throughout the 20th century, and a status of Critically Endangered was assessedin 2016. While previously found on several of the Turks Islands, the species was not documented between 1972 and2008, when we discovered a new population on Cotton Cay. We report on the status of the Turks Island Skink basedon surveys of the Turks Cays from 2008 to 2022–2024. We found that the skink is likely restricted to a novel populationwe report on Cotton Cay and that this is possibly the only remaining population of the species, reinforcing itsstatus as Critically Endangered. We further provide the first published photographs of live individuals of the species.