Acritoscincus duperreyi

3 Eastern Three-lined Skink at Tharwa, ACT

Request use of media

Identification history

Acritoscincus duperreyi	21 Sep 2021	WillO
Pseudemoia pagenstecheri	21 Sep 2019	wombey
Carinascincus coventryi	21 Sep 2019	MichaelMulvaney
Unidentified	4 Sep 2019	KShort

Identify this sighting

Please Login or Register to identify this sighting.

Significant sighting

MichaelMulvaney noted:

23 Sep 2019

Pseudemoia rawlinsoni is quite widely spread at high montane and subalpine elevations in the high country south west of Canberra (including along the Brindabella Range and Namadgi area), but is rarely observed. The ACT Wildlife Atlas only had four records of this species, while this is a first for Canberra Nature Map.

10 comments

wombey wrote:

22 Sep 2019

It's not coventryi and I have tentatively called pagenstecheri. A look at the frontoparietal would have been helpful but I would like to hear Will's opinion.

WillO wrote:

23 Sep 2019

This is a very good record. Pseudemoia rawlinsoni is quite widely spread at high montane and subalpine elevations in the high country south west of Canberra (including along the Brindabella Range and Namadgi area), but is rarely observed. It is a habitat specialist found mainly in wet heathland and moist tea-tree scrub. It very closely resembles pagenstecheri but has a glossy appearance and has a pale stripe along scale row 3 (from the mid dorsal scale row) whereas the pale stripe is on row 4 in pagenstecheri. This can be seen by carefully looking at the photos (I enlarged them a little to this). Will.

KShort wrote:

23 Sep 2019

Glad it's a useful record!
I suspect sighting 4233966 (Unidentified on 4 Sep 2019) was the same individual (managed to spot it again in a similar location as I returned along the path) - but you will be better placed to confirm/deny given your knowledge of these skinks.

GeoffRobertson wrote:

24 Sep 2019

Wow! Geoff

WillO wrote:

24 Sep 2019

I just checked 4233966 - John W had suggested Acritoscincus duperreyi and that is correct. I just accepted the record on John's behalf.

GeoffRobertson wrote:

24 Sep 2019

Will, I am a little confused. Is record 4233966, this record or a separate sighting?

WillO wrote:

25 Sep 2019

It is another record at same site Geoff - see K Shorts's statement in box 3 above. Cheers Will.

BrianLR wrote:

29 Aug 2021

Why is this not A. dupperyi? especially without a good view of the head scales, Acritoscincus cant be discounted. Furthermore, being recorded in a much lower, drier area of namadgi, would be more typical of dupperyi, considering rawlinsoni are upland bog dwellers.
Cheers,
Brian.

WillO wrote:

30 Aug 2021

Thanks for raising this question Brian. I agree with your comment about the site possibly being too dry for it to have supported P. rawlinsoni. The site is in fact high enough at 1167 m but the site appears to be just on the northern edge of a large granite outcrop and no where near a moist habitat. It would be good to go to the exact photograph site to check that out. The site would have to be moist and reasnably extensive - such as a swampy or tea tree lined creekline, or a grassy seepage, wet heath or bog to provide typical habitat for P. rawlinsoni. In addition to our comments in the above thread I would add that in P. rawlinsoni there is a clear white line that starts below the eye and runs at a slight angle to end up just above the ear opening. The pale line then continues back along the side of the lizard as a lower white lateral line. My conclusion without seeing if the fronto parietal shields are fused into a single large plate would be that this is most likely A. duperreyi.

jks wrote:

20 Sep 2021

I saw this great resource for distinguishing Acritoscincus duperreyi and Pseudemoia rawlinsoni https://twitter.com/FarquharJules/status/1439498627118886912?s=20

Please Login or Register to comment.