Broad Banded Sand Swimmer

About the Broad Banded Sand Swimmer

The broad-banded sand-swimmer or Richardson's skink (Eremiascincus richardsonii) is a species of skink found in Australia. The Eremiascincus genus was created under the Sphenomorphus Group due to having distinct differences and morphological adaptions compared to other skinks in the genus, even though they are visually similar. These skinks possess traits that are unique to those other skinks in this category. The Broad Banded Sand Swimmer was derived and named after John Richardson, who was a Scottish Naturalist.

It is named ‘sand-swimmer’ due to its ability to ‘swim’ over sand as it locomotes, and to evade predators by quickly burrowing into the sand. This skink is considered medium-sized, andhas a snout to vent length of around 113mm as a maximum, however has an average SVL of 75mm. The tail length varies but is up to 171% longer than the SVL.

They are a very distinct skink in their looks, although are similar in many ways to the E. fasciolatus. The Broad Banded Sand-Swimmer can be distinguished from other similar species by the number of caudal bands it possesses and the patterning of those bands which can be seen in image 3. These skinks... Wikipedia →