The Blue Mountains water skink or Blue Mountains swamp-skink (''Eulamprus leuraensis'') is a species of skink in the family Scincidae. An endangered species, it is found only in restricted parts of the mountains of southeastern Australia.

Description

The Blue Mountains water skink has a snout-to vent length of about and a tail length of about . The head is bronze to brown with black markings. The

dorsal Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to: * Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism * Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage * Dorsal c ...

surface of the body is dark brown or blackish and on either side of the spine are rows of fine yellowish-bronze or white spots, giving the impression of continuous pale lines. These continue onto the dark-coloured tail as rows of spots. The flanks and limbs are dark brown or blackish with yellowish or bronze markings and the underparts are cream or yellow with small dark markings. The legs are robust and there are five toes on each foot. This species is unlikely to be confused with other species of '' Eulamprus'' because of its overall darker colour.

Distribution and habitat

This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the Blue Mountains of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in Australia. There are two separate populations, one on the Newnes Plateau, and the second on the other side of the range just south of

Hazelbrook Hazelbrook is a town situated in New South Wales, Australia (Elevation: 675 metres) It is located 91 kilometres west of Sydney and 16 kilometres east of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains on the Great Western Highway. History and description The ...

. These populations are split into about forty actual locations where the skink is found, its habitat being swampy areas with sedges and small shrubs, at altitudes between . Analysis of microsatellite loci of the subpopulations has shown that they are genetically distinct, with very little dispersal of individual skinks from one location to another. What movement there is appears only to involve males.

Ecology

The skink is one of about four hundred species of animal found in the

Greater Blue Mountains Area The Greater Blue Mountains Area is a World Heritage Site located in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia. The area was placed on the World Heritage List at the 24th Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Cairns in 2000. ...

, a UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

consisting of peaks, plateaus, gorges and escarpments. The site is significantly representative of the Australia's biodiversity and contains ninety-one species of ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as e ...

''. The Blue Mountain water skink is semi-aquatic and can be seen between September and April. It likes to bask in the sun and forages for

flies Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced m ...

, grasshoppers,

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

weevil Weevils are beetles belonging to the superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They belong to several families, ...

s and

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. ...

s, and may occasionally eat small fruits. The female is

viviparous Among animals, viviparity is development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. This is opposed to oviparity which is a reproductive mode in which females lay developing eggs that complete their development and hatch externally from the ...

and gives birth to live young in the austral summer (December).

Status

''E. leuraensis'' is listed as "

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

" by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q784644 Eulamprus Skinks of Australia Endemic fauna of Australia Reptiles of New South Wales Taxa named by Richard Walter Wells Taxa named by Cliff Ross Wellington Reptiles described in 1983 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot