Species:

Cryptoblepharus virgatus

Wall Skink

Some other names for this species:

Cream-striped Shinning Skink, Cream-striped Snake-eyed Skink, Cream-striped Skink, Eastern Snake-eyed Skink, Snake-eyed Skink, Wall Lizard, Common Tree Skink, Fence Skink

Subspecies I've seen:
thumbnail
Wall Skink
C. v. virgatus
Subspecies:

Cryptoblepharus virgatus virgatus

Wall Skink

February 11, 2003
Granite Gorge, Mareeba, Queensland, Australia
Wall Skink (Cryptoblepharus virgatus virgatus)

I recognized these tiny speed demons right away as close kin to the tidepool-dwelling Cryptoblepharus burdeni I had seen a few years earlier on Komodo island in Indonesia. I saw at least two dozen of them racing about on boulders and logs, but struggled to get any halfway decent pictures. Later I discovered that they are quite common up and down the coast of Queensland at least, which seems to have earned them a large collection of common names.

Here is a complete list of the reptiles and frogs I saw on this trip to Australia.

February 18, 2003
Wynnum, Queensland, Australia
Wall Skink (Cryptoblepharus virgatus virgatus)

While we were in Wynnum hoping to spot dugongs, I managed to find one of these skinks that was much less nervous than the ones in Mareeba.