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The identification of species boundaries for allopatric populations is important for setting conservation priorities and can affect conservation management decisions. Tuatara (Sphenodon) are the only living members of the reptile order Sphenodontia and are restricted to islands around New Zealand that are free of introduced mammals. We present new data of microsatellite DNA diversity and substantially increased mtDNA sequence for all 26 sampled tuatara populations. We also re-evaluate existing allozyme data for those populations, and together use them to examine the taxonomic status of those populations. Although one could interpret the data to indicate different taxonomic designations, we conclude that, contrary to current taxonomy, Sphenodon is best described as a single species that contains distinctive and important geographic variants. We also examine amounts of genetic variation within populations and discuss the implications of these findings for the conservation management of this iconic taxon.

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We compared evidence for successful reproduction of tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus punctatus) in the presence or absence of introduced Pacific rats (kiore, Rattus exulans) for islands in the Mercury Group and Hen and Chickens Group, New Zealand Tuatara were captured more frequently on the two kiore‐free islands than on the six kiore‐inhabited islands, suggesting reduced density in the presence of kiore. On the two kiore‐free islands, 22.2–30.8% of all tuatara captured were juveniles or small adults (<200 mm snout‐vent length). In contrast, juvenile tuatara were not seen on five of the six kiore‐inhabited islands and small adults were absent from three. These data support an earlier study suggesting that kiore inhibit recruitment of tuatara. Both sexes of adult tuatara were present on kiore‐inhabited islands, and plasma concentrations of sex hormones suggest that at least some adults remain reproductively active on most islands. Throughout their range, tuatara have become extinct this century on four islands inhabited by kiore, they are on the verge of extinction on two kiore‐inhabited islands sampled in this study and two kiore‐inhabited islands not sampled, and they are absent from at least six other kiore‐inhabited islands on which on biogeographic grounds they would be expected to be present. Although the data remain circumstantial, the most plausible explanation of these observations is that kiore can cause extinction of tuatara through competition for food and/or predation on eggs and juveniles. In the absence of kiore eradication the four worst‐case populations of tuatara would probably be extinct within 10–20 years and populations on three other islands would probably be relictual or extinct within 30–50 years. Kiore eradication is being carried out on most of these islands, in part to help ensure tuatara survival Well‐monitored eradication programs will enable an experimental test of the hypothesis that tuatara densities and recruitment rates are enhanced in the absence of kiore.

Patterns of allozyme variation reveal that frogs from Maud Island, New Zealand, here designated Leiopelma pakeka, n sp , are specifically distinct from L hamiltoni from Stephens Island Previously, the two populations had been thought to be conspecific Leiopelma pakeka shows limited morphological differentiation from L hamiltoni, but is highly distinct genetically Among 12 allozyme loci resolved from toe tissue, the two taxa showed fixed differences at two loci and one significant frequency difference L hamiltoni was genetically more similar to L archeyi (Nei's D = 0 18) than to L pakeka (D = 0 24) The discovery that Maud Island and Stephens Island frogs are distinct species increases the conservation significance of both as the single known population of each species L hamiltoni is one of the world's rarest frogs and warrants the highest level of conservation protection

The tuatara of New Zealand is a unique reptile that coexisted with dinosaurs and has changed little morphologically from its Cretaceous relatives. Tuatara have very slow metabolic and growth rates, long generation times and slow rates of reproduction. This suggests that the species is likely to exhibit a very slow rate of molecular evolution. Our analysis of ancient and modern tuatara DNA shows that, surprisingly, tuatara have the highest rate of molecular change recorded in vertebrates. Our work also suggests that rates of neutral molecular and phenotypic evolution are decoupled.

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