Acritoscincus duperreyi

Eastern Three-lined Skink at Paddys River, ACT

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Identification history

Acritoscincus duperreyi	14 Dec 2017	WillO
Acritoscincus duperreyi	13 Dec 2017	WillO
Pseudemoia pagenstecheri	11 Dec 2017	GeoffRobertson
Pseudemoia pagenstecheri	11 Dec 2017	wombey
Unidentified	11 Dec 2017	roymcd

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8 comments

wombey wrote:

11 Dec 2017

Will, my best guess but can you rule out rawlinsoni?

WillO wrote:

13 Dec 2017

Just a comment on this tricky id. It can be hard to detect the difference between P. pagenstecheri and A. duperreyi if the specimen is not in hand. These are good photos so i will give it go. To be P. pagenstecheri the skink should have all of the following: 1. parietal shields in contact behind the interparietal (IT DOES SEEM TO HAVE THAT BUT NOT CLEAR IN PHOTO); 2. lower eyelid with a transparent disc (CANNOT SEE IN PHOTOS); 3. usually one or two additional dark stripes between the dark coloured vertebral stripe and the pale dorso-lateral stripe (NOT PRESENT ON THIS SPECIMEN); fronto parietal paired (SEEM TO BE SINGLE IN THIS INDIVIDUAL). Based on these characters I would suggest it is A. duperreyi. If you look at page 109 of our book Wildlife of the Australian Snow Country you will see an individual with the same markings. A question to the photographer: Can you describe the habitat the lizard was in (ie woodland, grassland, heath, open grassy heath etc? outcrop). Sorry to be pedantic!

roymcd wrote:

14 Dec 2017

Thanks everyone, this was in the first few minutes of the Square Rock trail, so it was a woodland environment with mature trees overhead and plenty of rocky outcrops along the trail. Kind regards, Roy.

WillO wrote:

15 Dec 2017

Thanks Roy. That sounds like you were already back across to the east of the Corin Dam road (ie on the rocky hill slope and not out in the open valley floor grassland?. That open forest with a mixed shrub and grass habitat is pretty typical habitat for A. duperreyi.

WillO wrote:

15 Dec 2017

Re John.s comment about a slight possibly it is P. rawlinsoni - rawlinsoni always has a very glossy appearance otherwise, yes, it is quite similar to P. pagenstecheri.

wombey wrote:

15 Dec 2017

I think based on the above comments we should all be happy to call it A. duperreyi. Will, since it was your comments that pointed the way, feel free to confirm.

GeoffRobertson wrote:

15 Dec 2017

agree

roymcd wrote:

16 Dec 2017

Thanks everyone, yeah 'open forest' is a pretty good description of the area. Thanks, Roy.

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