Rarest skink rediscovered
Australia’s kungaka skink—described as the country’s rarest reptile and not found anywhere else—was rediscovered in Mutawintji National Park after being thought functionally extinct. The ABC report detailed the find as occurring in far west New South Wales and framed it as a conservation surprise. (abc.net.au)
A skink found only in one remote New South Wales national park has been confirmed as a distinct species, with fewer than 20 individuals recorded. (abc.net.au) Scientists formally described the lizard as *Liopholis mutawintji* in a paper published April 14 in *Zootaxa* after genome-wide DNA analysis and morphology work split the White’s skink group into three lineages. (mapress.com) Wiimpatja Aboriginal Owners have long known the animal as kungaka, meaning “the hidden one,” and the species is found only in Mutawintji National Park, about 130 kilometres north-east of Broken Hill. (abc.net.au) The animal had been treated for decades as an isolated population of the widespread White’s skink, but researchers said the Mutawintji population sits about 500 kilometres from its closest relatives and survives in a small pocket of humid rocky habitat. (theconversation.com) That matters for conservation because a population that looked like one local outpost of a common reptile is now its own species with an extremely small range and count. The Australian Museum said that makes kungaka one of Australia’s most threatened reptiles. (australian.museum) New South Wales environment officials said Mutawintji Board of Management and the National Parks and Wildlife Service have identified subpopulations at three locations in the park, where sheltered rocky gorges give the skinks cover from predators. (environment.nsw.gov.au) Researchers told ABC they have monitored the skink for 25 years and now need to pin down the pressures pushing it toward extinction, including pest animals and extreme drought. (abc.net.au) The species’ isolation is also part of its history. Researchers wrote that the lineage likely dates to earlier, wetter periods in Australia and persisted as the continent dried, hanging on in rocky refuges while surrounding country became harsher. (theconversation.com) For now, the “hidden one” is no longer hidden from science, but it remains confined to a single park and a count of fewer than 20 known animals. (australian.museum)
