Egernia kingii

Egernia kingii
Albany, Western Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata
Family:Scincidae
Genus:Egernia
Species: E. kingii
Binomial name
Egernia kingii
(Gray, 1838)
Synonyms
  • Tiliqua kingii Gray, 1838
  • Egernia kingii — Glauert, 1960[1]

Egernia kingii, King's skink, is a species of skink native to coastal regions of south-western Australia[2] common on Rottnest Island and Penguin Island and some coastal areas with open forest and open heath. It is a large, heavy-bodied black skink that can reach a length of 55 centimetres (22 in)[2] with a mass of 220 grams (8 oz).

This reptile is omnivorous and consumes mostly softer plant matter from the range of local vegetation, but supplements its diet with insects and bird's eggs.[3] They are prey for many animals including tiger snakes (Notechis spp.).[4]

A traditional name for the species is wandy, given by the Nyungar people of south west Western Australia.[5] The first European to draw a King's skink was the artist and naturalist Ferdinand Bauer who made a detailed drawing of one during Flinders' expedition in 1801.[6]

Like many skinks, they are viviparous and after a gestation period of 20 – 22 weeks.[3] give birth to litters of 2 - 8 young that have a typical mass of 7 grams (0.25 oz). Juvenile mortality is high and growth to adult size is slow, so mature King's skinks can be quite long lived.

The specific name, kingii, is in honor of Australian Phillip Parker King, who explored the coast of Australia while he was an officer in the Royal Navy.[7]

King's skink near Albany, Western Australia

References

  1. ↑ "Egernia kingii ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. 1 2 "Waratah Software Natural Images of Australia". 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  3. 1 2 "CSIRO publishing - The reproduction and diet of Egernia kingii (Reptilia : Scincidae) on Penguin Island, Western Australia". 2008. Retrieved 2003-05-03.
  4. ↑ "Diet divergence, jaw size and scale counts in two neighbouring populations of tiger snakes (Notechis scutatus)" (PDF). 2003. Retrieved 2003-05-03.
  5. ↑ "Vocabulary collected by Isaac Scott Nind 1826-1829 at King George's Sound". 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-07-20. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  6. ↑ "ABC - The Nauralists - Ferdinand Bauer". 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
  7. ↑ Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Egernia kingii, p. 141).

Further reading

  • Boulenger GA. 1887. Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III. ... Scincidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 575 pp. + Plates I-XL. (Egernia kingii, pp. 138–139).
  • Glauert L. 1960. "Herpetological miscellanea. XII. The family Scincidae in Western Australia. Part 1. The genera Tiliqua, Trachysaurus and Egernia ". Western Australian Naturalist 7 (3): 67-77.
  • Gray JE. 1838. "Catalogue of the Slender-tongued Saurians, with Descriptions of many new Genera and Species". Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., First Series 2: 287-293. (Tiliqua kingii, new species, p. 290).
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