Lampropholis delicata

Delicate Skink or
Garden Skink
Lampropholis delicata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Lampropholis
Species: L. delicata
Binomial name
Lampropholis delicata
(De Vis, 1888)

The Delicate Skink,[1] Dark-flecked Garden Sun Skink[2] or Garden Skink (Lampropholis delicata) is a skink of the subfamily Lygosominae, originally from Eastern Australia. In its native range and in New Zealand it is also known as the Rainbow Skink, which elsewhere usually refers to the African Trachylepis margaritifera, also a member of the Lygosominae.

It was accidentally introduced to New Zealand in the early 1960s, where it is the only introduced reptile to have successfully established a wild population. It is found in several parts of the North Island, and occupies similar habitats to the native copper skink (Cyclodina aenea).[3]

It has also become naturalised in Hawaii, where it is reportedly now the most numerous skink, and on Lord Howe Island.[4]

The delicate skink is more common in suburban gardens than in adjacent native bushland. It has a moderate body with a medium length, slender tail. Its scales are smooth. The back and sides are greyish-brown to rich brown, often with darker and paler flecks. A narrow yellowish-brown stripe is usually present on the outer edge of the back.

References

  1. ↑ A new genus and a new species of skink from Victoria
  2. ↑ Lampropholis delicata, James Cook University
  3. ↑ Joanne E. Peace (2004). Distribution, habitat use, breeding and behavioural ecology of rainbow skinks (Lampropholis delicata) in New Zealand, MSc thesis, Massey University. Retrieved 3 September 2010.
  4. ↑ Christopher Lever (2003). Naturalized reptiles and amphibians of the world, p. 101. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-850771-0.

Further reading