The Arnhem Land Gorges skink (''Bellatorias obiri'') is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

, a lizard in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Scincidae. The species is native to

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. The Arnhem Land Gorges skink was first noted to be distinct in 1974 by

Harold Cogger Harold George "Hal" Cogger (born 4 May 1935) is an Australian herpetologist. He was curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Australian Museum from 1960 to 1975, and Deputy Director of the museum from 1976 to 1995. He has written extensively on A ...

, who called it ''Egernia'' cf. ''frerei''. Australian herpetologists Richard W. Wells and C. Ross Wellington described ''Hortonia obiri'' in 1985 from a specimen in the Northern Territory Museum in Darwin that had been collected 3 km southwest of

Gunbalanya Gunbalanya (also spelt Kunbarlanja, and historically referred to as Oenpelli) is a town in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, about east of Darwin. The main language spoken in the community is Kunwinjku (a dialect of Bin ...

(formerly known as Oenpelli) by Brian Jukes on 28 July 1975. Ross Sadlier called it ''Egernia arnhemensis'' in 1990.

References

Skinks of Australia Reptiles described in 1985 Taxa named by Richard Walter Wells Taxa named by Cliff Ross Wellington Reptiles of the Northern Territory Bellatorias {{Skink-stub