Murray's skink

Eulamprus murrayi is commonly named Murray's skink or Blue-speckled Forest-skink. Eulamprus, the water skinks, are a genus of skinks in the subfamily Lygosominae. The genus Eulamprus belongs to a clade in the Sphenomorphus group that contains other genera such as Ctenotus and Anomalopus. The phylogenetic relationships of species in the skink genus Eulamprus are poorly known, with similarities in morphology preventing current resolution of a phylogeny below the level of the three species clades (the E. quoyii, E. murrayi and E. tenuis clades). In the current study, mitochondrial DNA sequencing of the ND4 region is being used to test the current hypothesised species groups and provide resolution below the level of the species groupings. Based on mitochondrial data it is highly likely that Eulamprus is a paraphyletic genus.