Carinascincus coventryi

Coventry’s Skink at Kosciuszko National Park, NSW

Carinascincus coventryi at Kosciuszko National Park, NSW - 22 Apr 2018
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Identification history

Carinascincus coventryi 28 Aug 2018 WillO
Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii 25 Apr 2018 wombey
Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii 25 Apr 2018 KShort

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3 comments

WillO wrote:
   26 Apr 2018
OK these are very difficult from photos. If the skink is the same size as the other P. entrecasteauxii you were seeing at this location(head and body length about 55 mm) then it most likely is just another entrecasteauxii. However if it is a smaller skink (head and body length about 45 mm) that was literally hugging the leaf litter layer (not going up onto logs etc) it most likely is a snow skink Niveoscincus coventryi. WillO.
   28 Aug 2018
I reckon this specimen is a Coventry's Skink (now Carinascincus coventryi), as there are no distinct pale dorso-lateral or mid-lateral stripes and no indication of a vertebral stripe whatsoever, which Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii usually have. There is also no pale facial stripe extending back from below the eye, which is also typical of P. entrecasteauxii. The face and head also appear quite speckled, as you'd expect to find in Carinascincus coventryi.
WillO wrote:
   29 Aug 2018
John and Patrick - just to let you know that, following Patrick's suggestion earlier today that this is Carinascincus coventryi, I have changed it to that species (n.b still Niveoscincus in the CNM system). You can actually get almost pattern-less P. entrecasteauxii in the montane forests in the ACT (plain brown all over) but the pale flecks on the dorsum and tail and as Patrick pints out complete lack of even a slight sign of a dorso-laterat pale stripe is telling. I see also now from looking again that it is also a pretty small bodied skink (even though it is an adult) and that fits with C. coventryi. Cheers, Will Osborne

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Location information

Sighting information

  • 1 Abundance
  • 22 Apr 2018 04:36 PM Recorded on
  • KShort Recorded by

Species information

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