Stokes's skink

Description

Egernia stokesii is a gregarious species of lizard of the Scincidae family. This diurnal species is endemic to Australia, and is also known as the Gidgee skink, spiny-tailed skink, Stokes's skink and Stokes's egernia. The species forms stable, long-term social aggregations, much like the social groups seen in mammalian and avian species. This characteristic is rarely found in the Squamata order, but is widespread within the Australian subfamily of Egerniinae skinks. Populations of E. stokesii are widely distributed, but fragmented, and occur in semi-arid environments. There are three recognised subspecies. The conservation status for the species is listed as least concern, however, one subspecies is listed as endangered. Egernia stokesii range in colour from olive to reddish brown, with lighter ventral scales that range from white to yellow. The species often displays scatterings of lighter coloured dorsal scales. The dorsal scales are keeled from the back of the neck to the tail and spiny tail scales are a prominent feature of the species. The tail is flattened rather than cylindrical, and shorter than the head and body of the animal, at approximately 35% of the snout to vent length. E. stokesii is unable to autotomize their tails. The snout to vent length of a mature adult is between 155 and 190mm. The species is slow to reach sexual maturity, generally between five and six years of age, with a lifespan between 10 and 25 years. E. stokesii may be saxicolous, occupying rocky outcrops, or semi-arboreal, and found in grassland, woodland or shrubland habitats. They are diurnal and non-burrowing, instead sheltering in rock crevices, under logs, or in tree hollows. E. stokesii is found in New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia.