Sinbad skink

About the Sinbad skink

The Sinbad skink (Oligosoma pikitanga) is a rare species of medium-sized skink endemic to New Zealand where it lives in an alpine habitat in Sinbad Gully, in Fiordland National Park. It is one of two species of New Zealand skink found in the Fiordland region of the South Island that lives exclusively in the alpine zone, the other being the closely related and morphologically similar Barrier skink, Oligosoma judgei. The species was not recorded until 2004 and was formally described in 2008 - the Sinbad skink is thought to be very rare and is viewed to be at risk of extinction as a result of the predations of invasive mammalian species such as rats and stoats.

The specific epithet pikitanga is a Māori-language word meaning "mountain climber", and is a reference to the vertiginous alpine habitat of the species. The species was first recorded in 2004 by New Zealand herpetologist Tony Jewell and it was formally described in 2008; the expedition which discovered this species also found another species of skink (the as yet undescribed "Mahogany skink") and several new species of invertebrates in Sinbad Gully; all new to science.

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