Scale tales: guide to Aussie skinks

From leafy gardens to harsh desert, no bushwalk is complete without a skink scurrying by.

YEAR-ROUND, THE FRANTIC scamper of skinks is an everyday scene in most suburban gardens. This mainly sun-loving group - the largest family of Aussie lizards - is found in every part of the country.

From the stunning fire-tailed skink, to the 70 cm land mullet of the central-eastern rainforests - from limbless burrowing skinks in Central Australian dunes to popular bluetongues, there are nearly 400 species in the family Scincidae. These lizards typically have a broad fleshy tongue, overlapping body scales and large symmetrical plate-like scales arranged side by side on top of the head.

Kings of defence, many skinks will surrender their tail to predators and grow a new one later. In thorny situations the pygmy spiny-tailed skink can balloon itself to jam into rock crevices to avoid a predator. Some species such as the common garden skink live in large family groups, while others such as the broad-banded sand swimmer prefer the solitary life.

Skinks are primarily insect eaters, but some species, including the blotched bluey, supplement their diet with fruit, plant shoots and fungi.

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Broad-banded sand swimmer (Eremiascincus richardsonii)
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An aggressive, nocturnal desert hunter. Can escape predators in an instant by burrowing into sand with a wriggling, snake-like motion.
Size: Up to 30 cm
Food: Moths, termites, beetles, grasshoppers, spiders and occasionally small lizards

Three-toed skink (Saiphos equlalis)
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Sometimes mistaken for a snake, as it has very small legs, the three-toed skink may be found munching on crawling insects and worms in garden compost heaps.
Size: Up to 20 cm
Food: Crawling insects, centipedes, larvae and worms

Lined fire-tailed skink (Morethia ruficauda)
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This little lizard is thought to wave its fiery tail to communicate.
Size: Up to 9 cm
Food: Spiders, ants, moths and beetles

Garden skink (Lampropholis guichenoti)
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The coppery garden skink can be found basking and foraging among the leaf litter of suburban gardens. Large groups of more than 18 lizards may latch onto each other during spring mating season in flamboyant territorial displays.
Size: Up to 10 cm
Food: Flies, ants, moths and worms

Blotched bluetongue lizard (Tiliqua nigrolutea)
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Australia is host to six species of bluetongue. The blotched bluetongue can often be seen basking on rocks and roads in southeastern Australia.
Size: Up to 40 cm
Food: Insects, snails, slugs, worms, spiders, mice, fungi, flowers and fruit

Lancelin Island skink (Egernia major)
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Known only to inhabit Lancelin Island, a 7.6 ha nature reserve 115 km north of Perth. Populations of this rare skink are threatened due to the invasion of its habitat by exotic weeds and disturbance by humans.
Size: Up to 8 cm
Food: Insects and larvae

Land mullet (Egernia major)
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Powerfully built with a fish-like head and body, the land mullet is Australia's largest skink. Foraging for plant material such as fungi and fruit on the rainforest floor, this giant can live up to 23 years.
Size: Up to 70 cm
Food: Fungi, fallen fruit, snails, slugs and insects

Pygmy spiny-tailed skink (Egernia depressa)
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A prickly, desert-dwelling lizard that lives in small family groups in tree hollows, rock crevices and termite mounds. Evades predators by inflating its body with air to jam itself in wood or rock cracks.
Size: Up to 16 cm
Food: Primarily insects and some flowers, fruit, soft leaves and shoots

Illustrations by James McKinnon.

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