Menetia greyii, Common name known as the common dwarf skink or Grey's skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to mainland Australia and Indonesia.
Etymology
The specific name,
greyii, is in honour of
Exploration George Grey, who became Governor of South Australia and later Governor of
New Zealand.
[; ; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ( Menetia greyii, p. 108).] George Grey was born 14 April 1812 in Lisbon, Portugal. Inspired by
Charles Sturt's discoveries in Australia, in 1836 Grey left to attempt to establish a settlement in Australia's north-west. He was knighted in 1848. After many accomplishments in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, Grey returned to London in 1894 and died in 1898.
Geographic range
One of Australia's most widespread and abundant lizards,
the common dwarf skink is found across Australia. It is found west of the Great Dividing Range. It is not recorded to occur in north-east Northern Territory, Cape York Peninsula, southern Victoria or Tasmania, but it is known to occur in all other areas of Australia.
The range of the common dwarf skink spans across approximately 93% of the continent.
A continuous occurrence record map can be found online at "Atlas of Living Australia" through this reference link.
Habitat
M. greyii is widespread and found in many different
. It is found in heaths, deserts, woodlands and grasslands.
It is also frequently found in urban environments, and is therefore fairly well known.
This skink is known to shelter underneath logs and rocks. It is often found moving through leaf litter on the ground while searching for its main food source of invertebrates.
It is widespread on a variety of soil types.
Description
M. greyii is a very small
skink that grows up to in snout-to-vent length (SVL). The body is of light build and elongated.
It has smooth scales and four limbs. The forelimbs have four digits and the hindlimbs have five digits.
It is brownish grey to grey and has dorsal dashes that can form broken lines and broad dark upper lateral and white midlateral stripes.
The underbelly of the skink is usually white.
Breeding males can be distinguished as they have a yellow/orange flush on the underbelly as well as a pink flush on the throat.
Some populations can differ slightly in colour because of the different environments they inhabit.
The common dwarf skink has two supraciliary scales, the first is quite small and the second is contacting the supraocular scale.
It has 3 scales in a line between the eye and the nostril.
Behaviour
The common dwarf skink is
fossorial, meaning it is a burrowing skink. This species is
Diurnality.
Diet
Predation for the common dwarf skink includes small insects such as ants and termites, and also small spiders.
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As prey
Predators of the common dwarf skink include, but are not limited to, larger reptiles, avian species and cats.
Reproduction
The adult female common dwarf skink may lay 1-3 eggs in every clutch.
M. greyii is one of a small number of vertebrate species that are known to reproduce by parthenogenesis.
Further reading
-
Harold Cogger (2014). Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, Seventh Edition. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: CSIRO Publishing. xxx + 1,033 pp. . ( Menetia greyii, p. 655).
-
Gray JE (1845). Catalogue of the Specimens of Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum. (Edward Newman, printer). xxviii + 289 pp. ( Menetia greyii, new species, p. 66).
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Peterson, Magnus; Metcalfe, Dean C. (2015). " Menetia greyii (Grey's Skink). Diet". Herpetological Review 46 (4): 631–632.
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Smyth, Michael; (1974). "Aspects of the Natural History of Three Australian Skinks, Morethia boulengeri, Menetia greyii, and Lerista bougainvillii ". Journal of Herpetology 8 (4): 329–335.
