Eastern Desert Comb-eared Skink
S2, profile
Murray Mallee Region
Eastern Desert Comb-eared Skink
S3, Head
 
                      
Eastern Desert Comb-eared Skink (Ctenotus regius)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Chordates (Chordata) - Reptiles (Reptilia)
Order: Scaled Reptiles (Squamata)
Family: Skink (Scincidae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Eastern Desert Comb-eared Skink (Ctenotus regius)
This Photo:     S3, Stripe

Thank you Stephen Mahony, Tony and Jenny Dominelli & Bruce Edley for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found in the Murray Mallee SA, Flinders Ranges, Riverland and possibly elsewhere
5 fingers & 5 very long toes.
We found a number of these on an expedition North of here, with a team of people helping with id's.
Very similar to the Eastern Spotted Ctenotus we find here at Ellura. The main difference is the solid line between the eye & the front shoulder seen here, missing on C. orientalis.
There are a couple of specimens depicted here, we suspect S3 is an adult (~65mm SVL & less colourful) & S2 is a juvenile (less spotty). Unfortunately we didn't measure the size of S2.

Similar Species: Eastern Spotted Comb-eared Skink (Ctenotus orientalis)

Copyright © 2019-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 17-Oct-2019
This species is classed as LC (Least Concern) in the Murray Mallee, SA, by DENR (Regional Species Status Assessments, July 2010)