DASIA skinks: or Tree Skinks, are a small group of arboreal lizards of which 9 species are recognised, 5 of which occur within Southeast Asia. These are diurnal, arboreal lizards, typically seen on tree trunks. Their body is robust, and typically bears either stripes running parallel to the body, or bars running across the body. Their limbs are thick, and their dorsal scales are keeled, which gives a matt appearance. The tail is around the same length as the head and body. Examples :
species :
-
Dasia griffini - Griffin's Dasia
-
Dasia grisea - Grey Dasia
-
Dasia haliana - Ceylonese Dasia
-
Dasia johnsinghi
-
Dasia nicobarensis
-
Dasia olivacea - Olive Dasia
-
Dasia semicincta - Peter's Dasia
-
Dasia smaragdina - Green Dasia
-
Dasia subcaerulea - Boulenger's Dasia
-
Dasia vittata
- Striped Tree Skink ( Dasia vittatum ) :
Trio of Dasia vittata (Borneo Tree -skink) inside Terrarium
Dasia vittata (Borneo Tree Skink) short look at the terrarium
courtesy to : www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards/striped_tree_skink.htm
Family : SCINCIDAE
Species : Dasia vittatum
Size (snout to vent) : 10 cm
Size (total length) : 21 cm
A handsome species, the Striped Tree Skink is found only in Borneo. It occurs in both primary and secondary forests and in coastal areas. It rarely comes to ground, except to bury its 2 to 4 eggs under the soil (it is also known to bury its eggs amongst epiphytes high in the trees). Its preferred niche is to forage around tree trunks for insects.
The species is easily identified by its black and white striped head and neck, and its olive-brown body covered with pale flecks. The species appears to be quite bold and easily approachable.
Figs 1 and 2 : Striped Tree Skink warming itself in the morning sun. Seen at Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo.
Other Websites and Photos :
- www.terrariengemeinschaft.de/tiere/baumskink
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasia_vittata
- reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Dasia&species=vittata
- www.catalogueoflife.org/col/
- Brown Tree Skink ( Dasia grisea ) :
Brown Tree Skink :
courtesy to : www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards/brown_tree_skink
Family : SCINCIDAE
Species : Dasia grisea
Size (snout to vent) : 13 cm
Size (total length) : 28 cm
A diurnal, but elusive, resident of lowland primary and secondary forests. It is characterised by a greenish-yellow underside and a series of dark bands across the medium brown dorsum.
In juveniles the patterning comprises a series of dark spots on the head, yellow and brown bands across the dorsum, and a mainly yellow tail with minor brown bands. Members of the genus are similar in proportion to the Eutropis genus, such as the Many-lined Sun Skink.
Aquatic behaviour has been observed in captivity; this skink will plunge into ponds in search of small fish or aquatic insects.
The species ranges from Peninsular Malaysia to Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippines. In 1994 the species was found for the first time in Singapore, and has since been confirmed as uncommon but widespread in the central forests.
Fig 1 : This specimen was spotted regularly on the same tree trunk, in tall secondary forest, for more than a year.
Fig 2 : The same specimen catches the last rays of the afternoon sun
Fig 3 : Another specimen peering out from a hiding hole in a rotten tree.
Fig 4 : This specimen prefers to hide in a crevice in a rotten tree stump.
All photos taken in Singapore.
Other websites :
- reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Dasia&species=grisea
- www.inaturalist.org/taxa/Dasia_grisea
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasia_(genus)
- animaldiversity.org/accounts/Dasia_grisea/classification/
- Olive Tree Skink ( Dasia olivacea )
Olive Tree Skink
courtesy to : www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards/olive_tree_skink.htm
Figs 1 to 3 : Specimen on beachfront coconut tree at Krabi, Thailand.
Family : SCINCIDAE
Species : Dasia olivacea
Size (snout to vent) : 12 cm
Size (total length) : 29 cm
The Olive Tree Skink inhabits coastal and lowland forest, but is most easily seen on the trunks of beachfront coconut palms.
This species rarely descends to the ground, and its large clutch of up to 14 eggs are laid in the canopy - either amongst epiphytes or under tree bark.
The dorsal surface is pale to medium brown, with a series of narrow, broken bands of black and white scales which are better developed at the shoulders and neck. The underside is a distinctive pale green. The snout is pointed, the eyes medium in size, and the scales are weakly keeled. The head is pale green and mottled with black.
Juvenile appear quite different - the body is patterned with black bands which are thicker than the intervening brown body colour, and these bands stop abruptly at the base of the plain brown tail.
The species ranges from Burma and Indochina through southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore to Borneo, Java and their smaller, adjacent islands.
Fig 4 : Juvenile in back-mangrove habitat at Chek Jawa, Pulau Ubin, Singapore.
Videos
Dasia olivacea (Animal) in Bac Lieu Province - Agriculture in Vietnam
Dasia olivacea and Gryllidae faring in Vietnam
Olive Tree Skink at Evermore Pets.
Other Websites :
- www.iucnredlist.org/details/178252/0
- reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Dasia&species=olivacea
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasia_olivacea
Olive Tree Skink (Dasia Olivacea)
The genus EMOIA : includes around 80 species of skink which are particularly diverse on the island of New Guinea where many undescribed species occur. They are diurnal and mainly terrestrial in habits, and are rather shy and fast-moving. Only one species occurs on mainland Southeast Asia, the Mangrove Skink. Examples ( See Below after wikipedia article ):
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Species:
-Emoia adspersa (Steindachner, 1870) – dark-sided emoia, dark-sided skink, dateline emoia
-Emoia aenea
-Emoia ahli
-Emoia aneityumensis
-Emoia arnoensis W.C. Brown & Marshall, 1953 – Arno skink
-Emoia atrocostata (Lesson, 1826) – littoral skink
-Emoia aurulenta
-Emoia battersbyi (Procter, 1923)
-Emoia bismarckensis
-Emoia boettgeri (Sternfeld, 1920) – Boettger's skink
-Emoia bogerti
-Emoia brongersmai
-Emoia caeruleocauda (De Vis, 1892) – Pacific bluetail skink, Marianas blue-tailed skink
-Emoia callisticta
-Emoia campbelli
-Emoia coggeri
-Emoia concolor
-Emoia cyanogaster (Lesson, 1826) – blue-bellied skink
-Emoia cyanura (Lesson, 1826) – azure-tailed emoia, copper-tailed emoia
-Emoia cyclops
-Emoia digul
-Emoia erronan
-Emoia flavigularis
-Emoia guttata
-Emoia impar (F. Werner, 1898) – copper striped blue-tailed skink[2]
-Emoia irianensis
-Emoia isolata
-Emoia jakati (Kopstein, 1926) – Jakati emoia, Kopstein's skink
-Emoia jamur
-Emoia kitcheneri
-Emoia klossi
-Emoia kordoana
-Emoia kuekenthali
-Emoia laobaoense
-Emoia lawesi (Günther, 1874) – Lawes' skink
-Emoia longicauda (Macleay, 1877)
-Emoia loveridgei
-Emoia loyaltiensis
-Emoia maculata
-Emoia maxima
-Emoia mivarti (Boulenger, 1887) – Mivart's skink
-Emoia mokosariniveikau
-Emoia montana
-Emoia nativitatis
-Emoia nigra (Jacquinot & Guichenot, 1853) – black skink
-Emoia nigromarginata
-Emoia obscura
-Emoia oribata
-Emoia pallidiceps
-Emoia paniai
-Emoia parkeri
-Emoia physicae
-Emoia physicina
-Emoia ponapea Kiester, 1982 – Ponape Forest skink
-Emoia popei
-Emoia pseudocyanura
-Emoia pseudopallidiceps
-Emoia reimschisseli
-Emoia rennellensis
-Emoia ruficauda
-Emoia rufilabialis
-Emoia samoensis (A.H.A. Duméril in A.M.C. Duméril & A.H.A. Duméril, 1851) – Samoan skink
-Emoia sanfordi
-Emoia schmidti
-Emoia similis
-Emoia slevini W.C. Brown & Falanruw, 1972 – Slevin's skink, Marianas emoia
-Emoia sorex
-Emoia submetallica
-Emoia taumakoensis
-Emoia tetrataenia
-Emoia tongana
-Emoia tropidolepis
-Emoia trossula
-Emoia veracunda
Scientific classification:
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata
Family:Scincidae
Subfamily:Lygosominae
Genus:Emoia
Gray, 1845
Species:
About 75, see text
Synonyms
-
Emoa Girard, 1857
Pacific bluetail skink
(Emoia caeruleocauda)
- Mangrove Skink ( Emoia atrocostata )
Mangrove Skink
courtesy to : www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards/mangrove_skink
Family : SCINCIDAE
Species : Emoia atrocostata
Size (snout to vent) : 10 cm
Size (total length) : 26 cm
The Mangrove Skink inhabits mangroves, back-beach vegetation and rocky shorelines : the skinks venture into the intertidal zone at low tide to feed on insects and other invertebrates.
The species can be distinguished from the Many-lined Sun Skink Eutropis multifasciata by the lack of keeled scales on the dorsal surface of the Mangrove Skink. Its colour is grey or brown-grey, flecked with black. There is a faint black band along each side. The throat is often bluish, and the belly greenish or yellow / orange.
The species ranges from the Ryukyu Islands (Japan) though Taiwan and the Philippines to much of Indonesia, New Guinea and northern Queensland (Australia). E. atrocostata is the only Emoia species in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.
Fig 1 : Full-grown adult on a coral rubble shoreline near Bahowo Village, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Fig 2 : Specimen on a rocky beach on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia at Kampong Sedili.
Fig 3 : Specimen with a markedly orange belly at Sungei Buloh, Singapore.
Other Websites :
- reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Emoia&species=atrocostata
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoia_atrocostata
- mangrove.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/text/2114.htm
- Copper-tailed Skink (Emoia cyanura ) :
Copper-tailed Skink
courtesy to : www.ecologyasia.com/verts/lizards/copper-tailed-skink.htm
Family : SCINCIDAE
Species : Emoia cyanura
Size (snout to vent) : up to 5.6 cm
Size (total length) : up to 15 cm ?
The Copper-tailed Skink (or 'White-bellied Copper Striped Skink') Emoia cyanura inhabits sandy, back-beach habitats and open, secondary forest.
It is primarily a sun-loving terrestrial skink, but it may clamber onto low vegetation or rocks to sun itself. This is in contrast to a similar, close relative, Emoia impar (or Dark-bellied Copper Striped Skink') which prefers more shady habitat in undisturbed forest.
It is a moderately slender skink with a long, slender tail. Its forelimbs are relatively short, but its hindlimbs are much longer.
Its body is dark brown to blackish above, medium brown on the flanks, and with three pale stripes extending from the snout to the upper part of the tail. The colour of its tail may vary from copper to greenish to bluish within populations, and it may appear to vary under strong sunlight. Its underside is pale.
Its diet comprises a wide range of invertebrates including insects and small spiders.
In Southeast Asia, this species reportedly occurs in parts of eastern Indonesia including Borneo, Sulawesi and Halmahera. Its range extends to many parts of the western Pacific Ocean including islands which comprise part of Papua New Guinea (i.e. New Britain), Solomon Islands, Fiji, Micronesia, French Polynesia and the Cook Islands (Zug, 2013).
Note : Given that the belly colour cannot be seen in these photographs, these 5 skinks are identified as Emoia cyanura(and not Emoia impar) largely on the basis of habitat preference.
Fig 1 : Example with copper-coloured tail from Bora Bora, French Polynesia. It was feeding on small insects which were attracted to small husks which had fallen from a tree in back-beach habitat.
Fig 2 : Specimen from Rarotonga, Cook Islands with a blue tail.
Fig 3 : A sparring pair from Rarotonga, Cook Islands, one of which has lost part of its tail.
Fig 4 : Examples with a green tail from Bora Bora, French Polynesia.
Other Websites :
- reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Emoia&species=cyanura
- bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2014/forer_kayl/
- www.inaturalist.org/taxa/99877-Emoia-cyanura
Please select or follow below :
SKINKS SPECIES : Blue - tongued skinks : Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7
Five - Lined Skinks : Part 1 - 2
Other Skinks : ASIAN & AFRICAN skinks : Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Other Skinks American Part : 1 - 2 - 3
Other Skinks Australian Part : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Please select or follow below :
SKINKS SPECIES : Blue - tongued skinks : Part 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7
Five - Lined Skinks : Part 1 - 2
Other Skinks : ASIAN & AFRICAN skinks : Part 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Other Skinks American Part : 1 - 2 - 3
Other Skinks Australian Part : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14