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Rainbow Skink

Carlia sp.

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-29.5859, 152.776

Field Notes

Description:

Less than 3cm in length, incredibly fast, delicate & small, beautifully marked & coloured with white lines & spots decorating the entire body, copper coloured head fades as it extends down body into a muddy grey & darker tail, larger eyes than usually seen on skinks here, larger head for size. Tail not long compared to body length. A juvenile of the Carlia species of Rainbow Skinks.

Habitat:

Found in dry woodland leaf litter in early morning scurrying with other species of sun-skink juveniles in north east NSW.

Notes:

It stopped briefly and stared up at me posing for a few photos. It appeared very distinctly different from the lizards it was mixing with and I saw no others similar to it then or since.

Species ID Suggestions

Lively Rainbow Skink

Carlia vivax

Reference Link
NathBig
1

Comments (4)
kdpicturemaker
That's definitely it NathBig! The juvenile photo! And that's exactly what the lizard was that I photographed - a juvenile. Thanks for that. The juveniles do look different from the adults.
NathBig
I'm fairly confident it's a Carlia. Vivax was one of the few I saw that occurred close to your range. Carlia tetradactyla was more in the right range, but the adults didn't look much like it. I've found a juvenile photo of that though, and it looks pretty close, I think that's what it is. Check out the photo here - http://hvbackyard.blogspot.com.au/2007/04/17-cute-little-skinks.html.
kdpicturemaker
Thanks NathBig for suggestion on species ID, I appreciate your help. Had a look at some of the images & couldn't quite see one that matched - number 13 in the photo series on that site would be closest. They must vary throughout the regions? If it is this species it would be just outside its specified range. I've not seen one in this region before, maybe someone else has though.

Spotted for Missions

Mission
National Geographic's Great Nature Project
Photographed
PublishedMarch 10, 2014

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