Alice Springs Desert Park
ASDP ReptilesGidgee Skink Perentie
The gregarious Gidgee Skink (Egernia stokesii) is diurnal (daytime) species that is endemic to Australia. It is also known as the Stokes’s skink.
Unlike most skinks known for their smooth scales, the Gidgee Skink has rough spiny scales, considered to be a defence mechanism against potential predators. Living around narrow crevices in rocks, tree splits and hollows, the Gidgee Skink has the ability to inflate its body with air, that allows the spiny scales to act like little hooks that help prevent the lizard from being pulled from its crevice.
Images © Ausemade PL
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Reptilia
- Order: Squamata
- Family: Scincidae
- Genus: Egernia
- Species: E. stokesii
- Binomial name: Egernia stokesii
- Subspecies:
- E. stokesii badia
- E. stokesii zellingi
- E. stokesii stokesii
- Synonyms:
- Silubosaurus stokesii
- Silubosaurus zellingi
- Egernia stokesii
ASDP ReptilesGidgee Skink Perentie
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