# Strange Guichenoti???



## BredliFreak (Jan 20, 2016)

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.


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## arevenant (Jan 21, 2016)

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


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## Bluetongue1 (Jan 22, 2016)

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.


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## NickGeee (Jan 25, 2016)

Ctenotus, probably taeniolatus


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## BredliFreak (Jan 25, 2016)

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


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## NickGeee (Jan 25, 2016)

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


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## Bluetongue1 (Jan 26, 2016)

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.


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