Strange Guichenoti???

[BredliFreak]

I was dog sitting at a mates place, when I came across a strange looking garden skink. I know there are Grass skinks (L. guichenoti) and Eastern Blue tongued skinks in their backyard but this one was different. It looked like a Grass skink except it was larger and more robust. It had the same coppery head, but faded and lighter. Instead of a grey dorsal stripe it had more of a browny colour. It's back was also a tan colour, or light browny-gold.

Any clues to what it is? It's in Canberra. No pics. Maybe I was seeing things.

 

[arevenant]

Around Canberra, and going by your description, quite possibly a Cunninghams Skink?

 

[Bluetongue1]

What immediately comes to mind is the Red-throated Skink (Acritoscincus platynotum). The amount of colour on the throat varies with individuals and is brightest during the breeding season in males – which is what most photos capture. It can be pretty much absent or just a light flush underneath. They do tend to have a coppery colour on the top of the head and vary from grey to brownish on the back, usually with strong sheen in sunlight.

If it was a very coppery on the back, like a honey brown colour, then maybe a young Water Skink (Eulampris sp.). Depends on how good a look you got at it, as water skinks have different lateral markings to Guichenotia. There are also a couple of Pseudemoia species found around there – the Southern Grass Skink and the Tussock Skink. Not having any experience with these species, I don’t know how much they vary in colour and pattern, but they might be worth a Google for comparison.

 

[NickGeee]

Ctenotus, probably taeniolatus

 

[BredliFreak]

Cheers guys, unfortunately there was no way it could be a cunningham's skink or a ctenotus, unfortunately. Just to clarify it was under a small rock.

I think the closest matches are the Acritoscincus duperreyi and the pseudemoia sp. though I think it might of been rawlinsoni as that looks closest to what it looked like, and its distribution appears to be in Canberra. Cheers

 

[NickGeee]

hemiergis then, they are pretty common in backyards up your way

 

[Bluetongue1]

Sorry Bredli-freak, please disregard POst #3. I misread the OP as “NOT having a vertebral stripe, but being brown on the back”.

Definitely check out some pics of the Southern Grass Skink (Pseudemoia entrecasteauxii) and secondly the Tussock Skink (Pseudemoia pagenstecheri). Perhaps even the Glossy Grass Skink. The vertebral stripe may have been indistinct. Add a brownish dorsal surface to that and it could give the impression of a brownish vertebral stripe. Unfortunately with no field experience of them I cannot help with behaviour, such as where you might expect to find them and how they react etc. The only other skinks of that size with the same body proportions of a common grass skink seem to all have a very definite narrow and dark vertebral line, if at all.