Extinct skink rediscovered

A skink once treated as a tiny offshoot of a common species has now been confirmed as its own species — and fewer than 20 are known to survive in one New South Wales national park. (abc.net.au) The lizard is known as kungaka, meaning “hidden one” in Wiimpatja parlku, and scientists have formally described it as *Liopholis mutawintji* in research published April 14 in *Zootaxa*. It lives only in Mutawintji National Park, about 130 kilometres north-east of Broken Hill. (australian.museum) The Mutawintji Board of Management and the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service said they have identified subpopulations in three locations inside the park, all in sheltered rocky gorges. Recent surveys found fewer than 20 skinks there. (environment.nsw.gov.au) A species description is the paperwork that turns “this looks unusual” into a formally recognized animal with its own scientific name. New South Wales officials said that step now lets the kungaka be assessed and listed in its own right under state and federal threatened-species laws. (environment.nsw.gov.au) Scientists had long treated the animal as an isolated population of White’s skink, a widespread reptile found across south-eastern Australia. Genetic analysis and body-shape comparisons showed that what had been grouped together is actually three species, with kungaka the only one confined to Mutawintji. (theconversation.com) Researchers said the kungaka’s closest relatives live about 500 kilometres away, suggesting the Mutawintji population has been isolated for a long time. Tom Parkin of the Australian Museum said the lineage likely dates to an earlier, wetter period, with the skink now surviving in a small humid refuge surrounded by dry saltbush and stony plains. (australian.museum) Wiimpatja Aboriginal Owners, ecologists and park staff have monitored the skink since 2000, with surveys intensifying from 2019. The Conversation article by Parkin, Jodi Rowley and Warlpa Thompson said counts since 2024 have stayed below 20, using photo-based pattern recognition to track individuals. (theconversation.com) The main threats are not mysterious: feral goats trample and overgraze the rocky habitat, while cats and foxes prey on small reptiles, and drought adds pressure in far western New South Wales. The New South Wales government said goat, cat and fox control programs are continuing in the park as surveys go on. (environment.nsw.gov.au) The park’s managers say the kungaka now qualifies for nomination as Critically Endangered under the state Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 and the federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. For a lizard called the “hidden one,” formal recognition is now the basis for trying to keep it from disappearing. (environment.nsw.gov.au)