Terror Skink
| Terror Skink | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Genus: | Phoboscincus |
| Species: | P. bocourti |
| Binomial name | |
| Phoboscincus bocourti (Brocchi, 1876) |
|
The Terror Skink (Phoboscincus bocourti) is a skink only found on the Île des Pins (Isle of Pines) in New Caledonia.
This species was considered extinct until December 2003 when a specimen was found by some specialists from the French Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (the animal was photographed and filmed before being released). Before it was only known from a single specimen, collected on the same island by a man named Balanza.
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 (20 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Sadlier, R. A., Whitaker, A. H. & Bauer, A. M. (2009). "Phoboscincus bocourti". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/17008. Retrieved 6 August 2011.
[edit] External links
- Description page, including photographs
- "Molecular phylogeny of the scincid lizards of New Caledonia and adjacent areas"
- http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/17008/0
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