Prickly Forest Skink

About the Prickly Forest Skink

The prickly skink, or prickly forest skink (Gnypetoscincus queenslandiae), is a morphologically and genetically distinctive species of skink endemic to rainforests of the Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Area, in north-eastern Australia. Unlike most small skinks, which have smooth scales, this species has rough, ridged and pointed scales. These keeled scales may be an adaptation to its high-rainfall habitat, to its microhabitat in rotting logs, or to camouflage it when moving through forest leaf-litter.

This species is a member of the Australian "Sphenomorphid" group of skinks (family Scincidae), which includes such genera as Ctenotus, Anomalopus and Eulamprus. It is monotypic in the genus Gnypetoscincus. The prickly skink is a habitat specialist restricted to closed canopy forest in high rainfall areas (rainforests) of the Australian Wet Tropics, extending from lowland tropical rainforest to montane forests on the adjacent hills and tablelands. Within these rainforests the prickly skink occurs within rotting logs and leaf litter and although locally abundant in some areas, it is rarely seen without searching. This is a well... Wikipedia →