Eulamprus heatwolei
Yellow-bellied Water Skink at Uriarra, NSW
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| Eulamprus heatwolei | PatrickCampbell | 25 Mar 2022 | |
| Eulamprus heatwolei | SWishart | 21 Jan 2022 |
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3 comments
21 Jan 2022
Appears to have a white anterior edge to the ear opening which would suggest tympanum, but keen to hear Will's opinion
25 Mar 2022
The anterior edge of the tympanum, whilst predominantly pale, is discontinuous i.e broken by a black section at the bottom, which is often the case with E. heatwolei, combined with a distinctive dark temporal region partially divided by a pale, short stripe; strongly contrasting/patterned throat and relatively heavily dark spotted dorsum all indicate E. heatwolei.
25 Mar 2022
Coree Flats is an interesting location because E. tympanum occurs out in the wet boggy flat away from the trees and E. heatwolei is present in the Mountain Gum - Snow Gum forest that surrounds the flat. This indvidual looks to be a heatwolei. However, water skinks can be very hard to identify from a single photograph. Like Patrick, I am pretty sure this is Eulamprus heatwolei - it has the pale mark along the dorso-lateral area from above shoulder to above forelimb that E. heatwolei has - obscured a bit by light reflection. Yes it does have a partial pale front edge to the ear opening but the pale edge does not run through as far as the lower labial area (although in my experience this character can sometimes be unreliable). 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 (like this individual) .
Location information
- Coordinates 148.807738-35.296995
- Altitude 1193.8m
- Maps Brindabella National Park
- Places Uriarra, NSW
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 13 Jan 2022 01:55 PM Recorded on
- SWishart Recorded by
Collections
- My flagged sightings SWishart Canberra & Southern Tablelands NatureMapr Eulamprus heatwolei Skinks Reptiles and Frogs
Species information
- Eulamprus heatwolei Scientific name
- Yellow-bellied Water Skink Common name
- Not Sensitive
- Local native
- Non-invasive or negligible
- Up to 1619.1m Recorded at altitude
Record quality
Quality score
3 / 7
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