The great desert skink (''Liopholis kintorei'' or ''Egernia kintorei)'', also known commonly as Kintore's egernia and by various other names including tjakura in various

Aboriginal Australian languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

, 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 Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

in the family Scincidae. The species is native to the western half of Australia. It is a burrowing lizard and extremely social.

Etymology and variant names

The species is known as ''Liopholis kintorei'' or ''Egernia kintorei''. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''kintorei'', is in honour of

Algernon Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore, 11th Lord Falconer of Halkerton, 9th Lord Keith of Inverurie and Keith Hall, Chief of Clan Keith, (12 August 1852 – 3 March 1930), was a British politician and colonial govern ...

, a British politician who was a colonial

governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the monarch, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-general of Aust ...

. One of the common name of this skink is great desert skink.

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

names for the skink include tjakura, mulyamiji, tjalapa, warrana (also spelt warrarna), and nampu.

Description

The great desert skink is a medium-sized skink, reaching an average snout-to-vent length (SVL) of , weighing around . It has smooth, small, glossy scales and is mostly rust-coloured on the top of the body, with the belly a vanilla colour. It has relatively large circular eyes and a short snout. They can be distinguished from '' Egernia striolata'' because they have more labials and more pointed ear lobules.

Taxonomy

''L. kintorei'' is a

of skink, a

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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to the western half of Australia.

Distribution and habitat

The species is

to the western half of Australia, occurring almost exclusively on Aboriginal land. ''L. kintorei'' is native to the southwestern quarter of 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 ...

(NT), dispersed slightly throughout most of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

(WA), and the northwestern corner of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

(SA). As the common name suggests, it is a desert reptile, living in

burrow file:Chipmunk-burrow (exits).jpg, An eastern chipmunk at the entrance of its burrow A burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to construct a space suitable for habitation or temporary refuge, or as a byproduct of Animal lo ...

s. The burrows can extend up to in length, and can have as many as 20 entrances.

Behaviour

Researchers found in 2011 that out of over 5,000 species of lizards documented, this species was said to have "unique" behaviour among them with regard to their cooperative behaviour. Individuals of the great desert skink work in cooperation with one another to build and take care of their burrows, even digging out specific rooms for use as a defecatorium. Mates are faithful to one another and always mate with the same lizard, although 40 percent of males have been documented to mate with other females. The tunnels are mostly excavated by adults, while juvenile lizards contribute small "pop" holes to the system. DNA analysis has shown that immature lizards live in the same burrow with their siblings, regardless of age difference. The study, carried out in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, also revealed that all immature lizards were full siblings in 18 of 24 burrow systems. Researchers confirmed that the lizards are family-based and keep the juveniles in the tunnel system until they mature. They

hibernate Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic reduction entered by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It is most ...

in winter (May/mid-June to September/October).

Diet

Tjakura is omnivorous and can be considered an opportunist generalist as it consumes a diverse range of invertebrates and plants supplemented at least occasionally with small vertebrate prey items. Culicidae (mosquitos) and Termitidae (termites) are the most frequently consumed. Tjakura actively forage both during the day and at night. Thuo, David; Macgregor, Nicholas A.; Merson, Samuel D.; Scopel, Dianne; Keogh, J. Scott; Kenny, Jeremy; Williams, Jessica L.; Guest, Tracey; Shaeleigh, Swan; McAlpin, Steve; Joseph, Leo (2024). "Metabarcoding clarifies the diet of the elusive and vulnerable Australian tjakura (Great Desert Skink, ''Liopholis kintorei)''". ''Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution'' 12: 1354318. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2024.1354138

Conservation status

The great desert skink, or tjakura, is a

threatened species A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

, listed as a

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened species, threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatened species, ...

under the federal

EPBC Act The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

, NT and WA legislation, and on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

. It 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, inv ...

. Text may have been copied from this source, which is available under
Attribution 3.0 Australia (CC BY 3.0 AU)
licence. It used to be a source of food for desert-dwelling Aboriginal peoples inhabiting

central Australia Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Australia. In its narrowest sense it describes a region that is limited to the town of Alice Springs and ...

, but since the

colonisation of Australia 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

, introduced pests such as

foxes Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

and

feral cats A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact; it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

have decimated the population. In March 2023, the first survey in a new National Recovery Plan for the great desert skink led by

Indigenous ranger Indigenous ranger programs enable First Nations people across Australia to protect and manage their land, sea and culture through a combination of traditional knowledge with Western science and conservation practices. Introduced by the Australia ...

s from across the Northern Territory,

, and South Australia was carried out. The rangers will continue to survey and collect data on the skink.

References

External links

Great desert skink
on the SPRAT database {{Taxonbar, from=Q308744 Reptiles of Western Australia Vulnerable fauna of Australia Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Skinks of Australia Liopholis Reptiles described in 1893