Eulamprus tympanum

1 Southern Water Skink at Cotter River, ACT

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Identification history

Eulamprus tympanum	15 Oct 2020	WillO
Eulamprus tympanum	15 Oct 2020	Tapirlord
Eulamprus tympanum	15 Oct 2020	BrianLR

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User's notes

juvenile, dark back, short face, limited white under throat. interesting this species was living sympatric to E. heatwolei. would be interested in others opinions.

2 comments

Tapirlord wrote:

15 Oct 2020

Quite dark colouration on this animal, but I agree with your suggestion of E. tympanum. The Brown side colouration on the sides is telling, as E.heatwoli sighting typically have paler sides, which are not present on this animal. I cannot see the underbelly cleary on this, however, which would the easiest way to identify this sighting. Nice photo :).

WillO wrote:

15 Oct 2020

These two species are very hard to ID. The identification by Brian is correct. The colour of the laterals doesn't really help. Both have very similar side patterns. The two main features are: Eulamprus tympanum - it lacks the pale mark along the dorso-lateral area from above the eye to above forelimb that E. heatwolei has. Eulamprus tympanum usually has a pale front edge to the ear opening. Subjectively I have found that E. tympanum always seems to have a rounder head profile (boof head) compared to E. heatwolei with its slightly flattened look to the head.
Good that you noted sympatric occurrence. I have seen them together (within metres) a handful of times over the years - tympanum in the bog/wet heath and heatwolei occurring right at the edge of bog/wet heath in drier forest usually sitting on large logs. That is why such care is needed in identifying them.

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Location information

Sighting information

At least 1 Abundance
11 Oct 2020 11:16 AM Recorded on
BrianLR Recorded by
Collections
BrianLR Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Skinks Reptiles and Frogs

Species information

Eulamprus tympanum Scientific name
Southern Water Skink Common name
Not Sensitive
Local native
Non-invasive or negligible
Up to 1897.44m Recorded at altitude
75 images trained Machine learning
Synonyms
Eulamprus tympanum tympanum

Record quality

Images or audio
More than one media file
Verified by an expert moderator
Nearby sighting(s) of same species
GPS evidence of location
Description
Additional attributes

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Queensland

Northern Territory

Western Australia

South Australia

Victoria

Tasmania