Littoral Whiptail-skink

Littoral Whiptail-skink

Emoia atrocostata

Least ConcernNear ThreatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically Endangered
Daily sighting probability Insufficient data
at Tanjung Puting National Park
1 Verified sightings at Tanjung Puting National Park From 2019 to 2026
68 Verified sightings across all 5 parks From 2019 to 2026
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted during daytime hours (6am–6pm)

About the Littoral Whiptail-skink

Emoia atrocostata, commonly known as the littoral whiptail-skink, mangrove skink, or littoral skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. It inhabits mangroves, back-beach vegetation and rocky shorelines. It is semi-aquatic and forages in tidal pools.

The species can be distinguished from the similar many-lined sun skink by the lack of keeled scales on the dorsal surface of the Mangrove Skink. Its colour is grey or brown-grey, flecked with black. There is a faint black band along each side. The throat is often bluish, and the belly greenish or yellow to orange.

E. atrocostata can be found on the Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and in Queensland, Australia. Duméril & Bibron, 1839 : Erpétologie Générale ou Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. vol. 5, Roret/Fain et Thunot, Paris, p. 1-871 (full text).

Lesson, 1830 : Description de quelques reptiles nouveaux ou peu connus. Voyage Autour du Monde Execute par Ordre du Roi, sur la Corvette de La Majeste, La Coquille, exécuté Pendant les Annees 1822, 1823, 1824 et... Wikipedia →

Global Distribution

Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.

where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is)  ·  parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Bako National Park 🇲🇾 Malaysia
~50%
2 Raja Ampat 🇮🇩 Indonesia
~30%
3 Tangkoko Nature Reserve 🇮🇩 Indonesia
Insufficient data
4 Tanjung Puting National Park 🇮🇩 Indonesia
Insufficient data
5 Sepilok 🇲🇾 Malaysia
Insufficient data
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