White's skink (''Liopholis whitii''), also known commonly as White's rock skink, 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), ...

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

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 ...

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 ...

. It was first described in 1804 by French

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Bernard Germain de Lacépède Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de Lacépède or La Cépède (; 26 December 17566 October 1825) was a French natural history, naturalist and an active freemason. He is known for his contribution to the Comte de Buffon's g ...

. It 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 Australia.

Systematics

Taxonomy

''L. whitii'' is highly variable and may be a complex of closely related species Cogger HG (1979). ''Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia''. Reed: Sydney. . The specific name, ''whitii'', honours Irish surgeon and naturalist John White.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Egernia whitii'', p. 284).

Subspecies

Two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognized as being valid, including the

nominotypical subspecies In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...

. *'' Liopholis whitii moniligera'' *'' Liopholis whitii whitii''

Distribution and habitat

''L. whitii'' is widespread in south-eastern Australia, including

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

and many

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

islands. Natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s of the species include

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

, and rocky areas, at altitudes from sea level to . The preferred habitat has rocks and shrubby heathland with minimal environmental disturbance.

Description

White's skink is a stocky, slow-growing, medium-sized species, reaching a maximum snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about . Both sexes are mature at ~ (SVL), a size typically achieved at three years, but which may be earlier in captivity. The skinks are variable in colour and pattern. Some populations lack back patterns or lip stripes. Base colours of the central stripe range from grey to brown and red. The sides of their body are patterned with black and white rosettes on a grey to brown background. The underbelly is a pale peachy-orange, increasing in colour intensity towards the tail and on the undersides of the limbs. The back is patterned with three bars, the middle being solid brown, parallelled on either side by black bars with white spots in a sequence that terminates at the base of the head and tail. The head and tail are typically brown with no patterning and minimal scale outlining present. Most specimens have black stripes on both sides of their lips that run from their yellow-lined eyes to a random speckling on the bottom of the chin. Individuals have varying lip patterns, with some having none.

Behaviour

''L. whitii'' is a burrowing

polygynous Polygyny () is a form of polygamy entailing the marriage of a man to several women. The term polygyny is from Neoclassical Greek πολυγυνία (); . Incidence Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than in any other continent. Some scholar ...

(one male per group of females) species, often digging or reusing complex tunnels with multiple entrances to provide an escape route. The entrances are well concealed to avoid predators.. It is a highly aggressive species that will attack other individuals that they do not recognize or 'like' via scent. This includes outside females that the group could potentially include, making them very difficult to pair. Adults also will sometimes cannibalise rival juveniles they do not recognise, including tails. In a natural population of White’s skink, it was shown that both females and males can discern the difference between unrelated and related individuals, and that both sexes tend to associate more frequently with members of the opposite sex who are related.Bordogna, G., Cunningham, G., Fitzpatrick, L.J. et al. An experimental test of relatedness-based mate discrimination in a social lizard. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 70, 2139–2147 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-016-2217-9

Feeding

Whites' skinks are

omnivorous An omnivore () is an animal that regularly consumes significant quantities of both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and animal matter, omnivores digest carbohydrates, protein, fat, and fiber, and metabolize ...

, capable of eating meat, insects and plant matter. They will also occasionally eat strawberries and raspberries.

Breeding

The skinks live in small, sometimes temporary, family groups, with up to five females per male. However, the females do sometimes mate with males outside the group. They are viviparous and give birth to live young. Females mate in September–October and give birth in late January–February over a period of two to ten days. Litter size ranges from 1–4. Most research on breeding preference emphasises the avoidance of mating partners who are closely related, because

inbreeding Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely genetic distance, related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genet ...

ordinarily decreases the quality of offspring. An investigation of a natural population of White’s skink, however, demonstrated that the optimal strategy may not always be avoidance of inbreeding, and that it may be beneficial under certain conditions. The offspring are highly aggressive from birth and will fight amongst themselves to chase away their rival

neonates In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...

from the group. Juveniles stay within the protection of their family until they reach about half the size of an adult. At this stage, the adult will chase the juvenile out of the group by attacking it on sight.