Terror Skink
Encyclopedia
The Terror Skink is a skink
only found on the Île des Pins (Isle of Pines) in New Caledonia
. Its scientific name is Phoboscincus bocourti.
This species was considered as extinct until December 2003 when a specimen was found by some specialists from the French Natural History Museum (the animal was photographed and filmed before being released). Before it was only known from a single specimen, collected on the same island by Monsieur Balanza in about 1870.
Its teeth are long, curved and sharp, suggesting predatory habits unusual for a large skink; most are omnivorous. Its diet might include larger invertebrates, other lizards, young birds, and eggs. It is about 50 centimetres (19.7 in) long, making it the third largest reptilian predator on the island, the others being a prehistorically extinct land-going crocodile and goanna
.
It is probably nocturnal. It may face predation and competition from cats, or the black, brown and Pacific rats that live in some parts of the island.
Skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...
only found on the Île des Pins (Isle of Pines) in New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
. Its scientific name is Phoboscincus bocourti.
This species was considered as extinct until December 2003 when a specimen was found by some specialists from the French Natural History Museum (the animal was photographed and filmed before being released). Before it was only known from a single specimen, collected on the same island by Monsieur Balanza in about 1870.
Its teeth are long, curved and sharp, suggesting predatory habits unusual for a large skink; most are omnivorous. Its diet might include larger invertebrates, other lizards, young birds, and eggs. It is about 50 centimetres (19.7 in) long, making it the third largest reptilian predator on the island, the others being a prehistorically extinct land-going crocodile and goanna
Goanna
Goanna is the name used to refer to any number of Australian monitor lizards of the genus Varanus, as well as to certain species from Southeast Asia.There are around 30 species of goanna, 25 of which are found in Australia...
.
It is probably nocturnal. It may face predation and competition from cats, or the black, brown and Pacific rats that live in some parts of the island.
External links
- Photograph of the specimen found in 2003
- Molecular phylogeny of the scincid lizards of New Caledonia and adjacent areas
- http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/17008/0