BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Black is a One year old skink. I got him last year, aug 1, at the reptile show in san jose. Can you help me ID my skink?

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh23 ... S5qcGc.jpg

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh23 ... S5qcGc.jpg

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh23 ... S5qcGc.jpg

Your skink is a Merauke Faded Blue-tongued Skink Tiliqua gigas evanescens (Shea, 2000)

Recently Dr. Glen Shea described this new subspecies of the Indonesian Blue-tongued Skink as (Tiliqua gigas evanescens). It is also commonly referred to as the Merauke Gigas. The sub-specific name evanescens, means to fade or lighten, and makes reference to the faded appearance that adult specimens are said to display. Dr. Shea chose to refer to this new subspecies as the Southern New Guinea Blue-tongued Skink. Since the undescribed Irian Jaya Blue-tongue also inhabits southern New Guinea, and is still occasionally referred to under this same name. I have chosen to call it the Merauke Faded Blue-tongued Skink. I feel that it was a logical compromise to use the old common name, with a tie in to the scientific name. While common names are not set in stone, I do feel that they play an important role in species identification in the pet industry and the reptile hobby, and that there should some consideration taken to avoid any potential confusion that could be caused when giving new common names. The Merauke Gigas has been exported out of Merauke in southern Irian Jaya, since the mid 90's, and is starting to be seen more often, in some of the larger pet store chains here in this country. There has been a great deal of speculation with regard to the actual origin of this blue-tongue, with many people suggesting that it may be the result of hybridization between the Common Indonesian Blue-tongue (Tiliqua gigas gigas), and the Irian Jaya Blue-tongue (Tiliqua ssp.) To date there is no evidence to support this theory.

Description: As a baby, the Merauke Faded Blue-tongued Skink is nearly identical in appearance to the Common Indonesian Blue-tongue. However, as it grows into adulthood, its color and pattern will often fade and become much less obvious than in Tiliqua gigas gigas. Adult specimens are usually a slate grey color with thin grey or tan bands. Like the Common Indonesian, the Merauke's ventral surface may or may not be striped or reticulated with black and orange. It has the typical gigas black limbs and single black nape stripe. However, its head is usually much paler and usually unmarked. The Merauke Gigas has a tail that accounts for 80-90% of the snout-vent length, with more defined banding on it than Tiliqua gigas gigas. The anterior temporal scales of the Merauke Blue-tongue are elongated and much longer then the other temporal scales. It is a large skink (especially for a gigas), with adults ranging between 20 (51 cm) and 27 inches (68.5cm). Unlike many of the island forms of Tiliqua gigas, the Merauke Gigas often has a good disposition.

Distribution: The Merauke Faded blue-tongued skink can be found through out southern New Guinea covering the majority of Papua and a small portion of south-eastern Irian Jaya. It is has been reported to inhabit the transitional zones between the coastal plains (frequented by the Irian Jaya blue-tongue Tiliqua sp.) and the Tropical forests (frequented by Tiliqua gigas gigas).

black at 9 inches
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh23 ... 01406a.jpg
black at 17 inches
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh23 ... C5qcGc.jpg

When I first saw it. I thought it was a halmahera indonesian, but then I saw the body so then I thaought it was a merauke, but then I saw the banding by the eyes which made me think about the halmahera. So I think it's either a meruake or a merauke x halmahera.

xxmonitorlizardxx wrote:When I first saw it. I thought it was a halmahera indonesian, but then I saw the body so then I thaought it was a merauke, but then I saw the banding by the eyes which made me think about the halmahera. So I think it's either a meruake or a merauke x halmahera.

For me, I will stay with Merauke as its ID. It is very highly unlikely a merauke-halmahera cross as their ranges do not meet (Halmahera is an island form), and there is so little, if any, breeding of these two forms in captivity that the merauke x halmahera posibility is all but ruled out. It important to remember that this is still a fairly young animal (1.5) years old, and since their patterns fade with age he still has plenty of time to fade out some. In addition, some specimens simply have darker markings than others, and that certainly looks to be the case with this guy.

The first three pictures had me thinking halmahera too, but the other two are very Merauke.

Nice looking skink. James Wilson got you covered on all bases.

Thanks for being a badass James Wilson

mh721 wrote:Thanks for being a badass James Wilson

His article from Reptiles Magazine 2001 was awesome. I own it and learned a great deal from it.
http://www.amazon.com/Reptile-Magazine- ... B0015IYSYU

just another question but does black look more female or male?

Ill be sure to take a look at this article. hopefully ill come across it sometime soon. sounds like a fun read.

Do you see sperm plugs in your skinks enclosure? If you do, you have a male. I was not sure of my current skink's sex as well. It was untill I saw sperm plugs left one day. This is not to be confused with poop and urine which a white trail that is left with its poop. The sperm plugs are left at random I have noticed with my male when it was maturing. You can have your skink probed by someone with experience. I had it done with a past skink at East Bay Vivarium. I do not recommend probing the skink yourself because you can injure it.

Hemipenes thread should help. It is in the list of threads recently posted on. I was just reading it. James Wilson described some useful info there too.

do merauke blue tongue skinks have solid blue tongues?

mh721 wrote:do merauke blue tongue skinks have solid blue tongues?

They can have some pink, some are all blue and some are 50/50 blue and pink.

mine is like 75% blue xD

mh721 wrote:do merauke blue tongue skinks have solid blue tongues?

Here are some photos of mine from back in 2000. She was a big 27 inch female with about a 50 x 50 pink x blue tongue.

mh721 wrote:Thanks for being a badass James Wilson

Anytime