Cunningham's Skink
Encyclopedia
Cunningham's Skink is a large skink
species
native to southeastern Australia
. It can reach up to 30 cm in length, and may be confused with blue-tongued lizard
s.
They have a distinctive keel on each scale, which gives them a slightly spiny appearance. 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. It is a diurnal omnivore with its diet including insects, flowers, berries, fungi, leaves and young shoots. There is currently research being done on the isolated population that inhabits the southern Mount Lofty Ranges
in South Australia
. This population is considered vulnerable due to the fragmented (disjunct) distribution of the 'colonies'. There is evidence that at least one of these colonies has totally disappeared. It is more common within suitable habitat along the southeastern coast and ranges of Australia.
Like some other reptiles the species it is viviparous, giving birth to six or more live young in a litter.
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...
species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
native to southeastern Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It can reach up to 30 cm in length, and may be confused with blue-tongued lizard
Blue-tongued lizard
Blue tongue lizard redirects here. For the aboriginal Australian myth, see Bluetongue Lizard .Blue-tongued skinks comprise the Australasian genus, Tiliqua, which contains some of the largest members of the skink family . They are commonly called blue-tongued lizards or simply blue-tongues in...
s.
They have a distinctive keel on each scale, which gives them a slightly spiny appearance. 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. It is a diurnal omnivore with its diet including insects, flowers, berries, fungi, leaves and young shoots. There is currently research being done on the isolated population that inhabits the southern Mount Lofty Ranges
Mount Lofty Ranges
The Mount Lofty Ranges are the range of mountains just to the east of Adelaide in South Australia.-Location and description:The Mount Lofty Ranges stretch from the southernmost point of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Cape Jervis northwards for over before petering out north of Peterborough...
in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
. This population is considered vulnerable due to the fragmented (disjunct) distribution of the 'colonies'. There is evidence that at least one of these colonies has totally disappeared. It is more common within suitable habitat along the southeastern coast and ranges of Australia.
Like some other reptiles the species it is viviparous, giving birth to six or more live young in a litter.