Blue Mountains Water Skink Essay

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Appearance:
The Blue Mountains Water Skink is fairly long-bodied and slender lizard. It can reach sizes up to 200 millimeters and weigh up to ten grams. It's scales have a shimmery shine to them, with long stripes along its back and a multitude of pale yellow spots throughout the length of it's body. It also has a light underbelly, which contrasts against the darker scales on top.

Taxonomy:
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Eulamprus
Species: Eulamprus leuraensis

Ecology:
Habitat:
This rare skink is located only in the swamps in and around the Blue Mountains and Newnes Plateau of Australia.They have been sighted making homes of burrowing holes made by other creatures but its regular home of choice in its environment is unknown.

Food:
The Blue Mountains Water Skink feeds on small and common invertebrates around the swamps it …show more content…

They are semi-aquatic lizards and like to bask in the sun. In the winter they will hibernate and if the swamp they usually reside in becomes temporarily unsuitable, either from flooding or cold, they are observed to temporarily reside in surrounding forests before returning to the swamps.

Reproduction:
The specifics of the skinks mating behavior and habitats during breeding season is unknown. They have a low fecundity, with one to five skinks born in a litter, with one litter born per year. The skinks are born in December (December, January, and February being the Australian summer months) and because they are ovoviviparous they give birth to live young rather than eggs that would hatch outside the body.

Distribution:
Though there are areas where it is known that skinks reside in the Blue Mountains and the Newnes Plateau, the skink is thought to also live in a range around one to ten kilometers (up to six miles) outwards of areas where it is commonly sighted.

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