Terror Skink
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| Terror Skink | ||||||||||||||
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| Phoboscincus bocourti (Brocchi, 1876) |
The Terror Skink is an extinct skink found in New Caledonia. Its scientific name is Phoboscincus boucourti or bocourti. It is in the the Scincidae family. (A specimen was found in 2003. - http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-extinct-creatures-that-arent-extinct/)
It is known from a single specimen, collected on the Pacific island of New Caledonia by Monsieur Balanza before 1876. Its teeth are long, curved and sharp, which shows it was a predator. This is unusual for a large skink, as most are omnivorous. It was the third largest reptilian predator on the island, the others being a land-going crocodile and a prehistorically extinct goanna. It was about the same size as an Australian blue tongue lizard. It was probably nocturnal. Its diet was probably larger invertebrates, other lizards, young birds, and eggs. Possible reasons for its extinction were the introduction of cats, or the black, brown and Pacific rats that live in some parts of the island.
[edit] Sources
- Australasian Reptile & Amphibian Specialist Group 1996. Phoboscincus bocourti. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 20 July 2007.
- Flannery, T. (2001). A gap in nature (pg. 63). New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.
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