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Technical report

Two families of lizards are widespread and common colonizers of the islands of Occania. The skinks (Scincidae) are diurnal and predominantly terrestrial lizards; the geckos are nocturnal and mainly arboreal ones. The origins and dates of these lizards’ colonization of Oceania remain debatable, although recent man-assisted colonization seems unquestionably the mode of dispersal for a few species. E.g. moth skink (Lipinia noctua; Austin 1999) and house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus; Case et al. 1994).

The Van Tienhoven Foundation provided Dick Watling with a grant of US$2000 to enable him to visit the islands of Late and Fonualei to determine the success of translocation efforts of the Polynesian Megapode Megapodius pritchardii to those islands in the early 1990s. This report is the formal account of the visits for the Van Tienhoven Foundation and is submitted in accordance with the conditions of the grant.