Eulamprus heatwolei

Yellow-bellied Water Skink at Paddys River, ACT

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Identification history

	Eulamprus heatwolei	24 Jun 2018	WillO
	Eulamprus tympanum	26 Dec 2016	KenT

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3 comments

PatrickCampbell wrote:

24 Jun 2018

I reckon this is E. heatwolei rather than E. tympanum as this obs has been currently ascribed. Despite what appears to be a pale anterior edge to the tympanum there are more features characteristic of E. heatwolei to warrant a change imo.

WillO wrote:

25 Jun 2018

Yes I agree bushman - it is E. heatwolei. It will be good to get these changes made. Your careful examination of the submitted water skink photographs is proving to very helpful. Gibraltar Pines is one area where you might get E. tympanum in cooler wet heath or bog habitats. However the main water skink in the montane forest and along the rocky streams in this part of the ACT will be E. heatwolei. WillO.

PatrickCampbell wrote:

28 Jun 2018

Thanks Will. I herped Canberra in the 70's for about seven years and at that time both species were lumped together as Sphenomorphus tympanum. Jenkins and Bartell split them into two distinct forms in 1980, namely the Warm Temperate and Cool Temperate forms (now Eulamprus heatwolei and E. tympanum respectively). Their detailed descriptions in A Field Guide to Reptiles of the Australian High Country is still useful in distinguishing between the two forms and may have contributed to Wells and Wellington's taxonomic split into the two species as we know them today.

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