Cunningham's spiny-tailed skink

Description

Cunningham's spiny-tailed skink or Cunningham's skink (Egernia cunninghami) is a species of large skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to southeastern Australia. It can reach up to 40 cm (16 inches) in total length (including tail), and may be confused with the blue-tongued lizards (Genus Tiliqua). Cunningham's spiny-tailed skink has a distinctive keel on each scale, which gives it a slightly spiny appearance. It is extremely variable in colour, ranging from dark brown to black, with or without blotchy patches, speckles, or narrow bands. It prefers to live communally in the crevices of rocky outcrops or hollow logs. Habitat fragmentation can affect a species population by disrupting core processes. One such process is inbreeding avoidance (avoiding inbreeding depression). The impact of habitat alteration (deforestation) on inbreeding was studied in the rock-dwelling Australian lizard Egernia cunninghami. Such populations in deforested areas experience potentially inbreeding-enhancing factors such as reduced dispersal and increased relatedness. However, active avoidance of close kin as mates was observed, as indicated by the substantially lower relatedness in actual breeding pairs compared to potential ones expected if there were random mating. This finding, as well as heterozygous excesses in immature lizards from disturbed (as well as undisturbed) habitats indicted that it maintains outbreeding in the face of increased accumulation of relatives. Cunningham's spiny-tailed skink is a diurnal omnivore, with its diet including insects, flowers, berries, fungi, leaves and young shoots. Both the specific name, cunninghami, and the common name, Cunningham's spiny-tailed skink, are in honour of English botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham.