Truth about the Halmahera Island locale
Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 4:45 am
This topic has rather bothered me.. well.. because we just don't know!
Over the last couple of months, I have been wanting to learn more and more about this locale, and I finally received one, although not a good representation, he has the looks of it.
When you see a skink that has completely black feet, black stripe down the neck, black banding, tail gradually turning black, what do you think of..? A Halmahera Island Blue-Tongued Skink. But why do they have that name? Why would that have that name if they are found outside of North Maluku?
I was reading up on this thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=22347
While on the thread it shows the ranges of the t. g. gigas, t. g. evanescens, t. g. keyensis.
You can see the t. g. gigas is found in very different places, but mainly focused on the west part of the island- or as I call "mainland", which where they live. The Northern part of North Maluku is shaded. There is where we would think our "Halmahera Island" Blue-Tongued Skink would be found... but why..?
I have heard from people from that land say that they were first found on the island, and soon made there way to Indonesia/PNG. No one can know for sure, which is another thing that bothers me.
Why would we call them a Halmahera Island Blue-Tongued Skink when other different looking skinks are found there, such as this one:
..which just looks like a typical Merauke..
..and this one, which looks like a so called "Halmahera Island" Blue-Tongued Skink, found in PNG:
My person opinion is that they are all came from a group of skinks from the island somehow.. maybe escaped.. same opinion as the people from that land.. but no one knows for sure!
When you get a skink that looks like a Halmahera Island Blue-Tongued Skink, how would you really know if it truly came out of Halmahera Island.. or North Maluku? You won't!
We know that the Axanthic Halmahera Island Blue-Tongued Skink are actually found on the island, I know people that had them collected from the island. But can they be found on the main island?? I know I have seen some Silver-ish looking Meraukes, but no way of saying where is was collected! It could be a Axanthic form of the picture posted of a Merauke-looking skink found on the island.
I was thinking about the more west the Indonesians go, the more darker, but that skink found in PNG shuts that door!
---
Another thing, the so called "Halmahera Island" Blue-Tongued Skink was clumped up as just a locale of the Indonesian, right? But take a look at this:
..and then look at this.
Scalation is not the same, same with this skink and all the rest:
Why would they use scale differences between a Merauke and a Indonesian, when the so called "Halmahera Island" locale of an Indonesian doesn't even have the same scalation?? The Halmahera Blue-Tongued Skink has 3 scales, and the Indonesian has only 2.
Maybe because it is a different species. Thanks for viewing! I hope I opened your minds!
All photo credit goes to their owner:
First photo: Jeff Greene
Second photo: Richard C.
Third photo: Mark O' Shea
Forth photo: Jeff Greene
Fifth photo: Underground Reptiles
Sixth photo: Jeff Greene and Underground Reptiles
Seventh photo: Jeff Greene and http://images.google.com/
Over the last couple of months, I have been wanting to learn more and more about this locale, and I finally received one, although not a good representation, he has the looks of it.
When you see a skink that has completely black feet, black stripe down the neck, black banding, tail gradually turning black, what do you think of..? A Halmahera Island Blue-Tongued Skink. But why do they have that name? Why would that have that name if they are found outside of North Maluku?
I was reading up on this thread: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=22347
While on the thread it shows the ranges of the t. g. gigas, t. g. evanescens, t. g. keyensis.
You can see the t. g. gigas is found in very different places, but mainly focused on the west part of the island- or as I call "mainland", which where they live. The Northern part of North Maluku is shaded. There is where we would think our "Halmahera Island" Blue-Tongued Skink would be found... but why..?
I have heard from people from that land say that they were first found on the island, and soon made there way to Indonesia/PNG. No one can know for sure, which is another thing that bothers me.
Why would we call them a Halmahera Island Blue-Tongued Skink when other different looking skinks are found there, such as this one:
..which just looks like a typical Merauke..
..and this one, which looks like a so called "Halmahera Island" Blue-Tongued Skink, found in PNG:
My person opinion is that they are all came from a group of skinks from the island somehow.. maybe escaped.. same opinion as the people from that land.. but no one knows for sure!
When you get a skink that looks like a Halmahera Island Blue-Tongued Skink, how would you really know if it truly came out of Halmahera Island.. or North Maluku? You won't!
We know that the Axanthic Halmahera Island Blue-Tongued Skink are actually found on the island, I know people that had them collected from the island. But can they be found on the main island?? I know I have seen some Silver-ish looking Meraukes, but no way of saying where is was collected! It could be a Axanthic form of the picture posted of a Merauke-looking skink found on the island.
I was thinking about the more west the Indonesians go, the more darker, but that skink found in PNG shuts that door!
---
Another thing, the so called "Halmahera Island" Blue-Tongued Skink was clumped up as just a locale of the Indonesian, right? But take a look at this:
..and then look at this.
Scalation is not the same, same with this skink and all the rest:
Why would they use scale differences between a Merauke and a Indonesian, when the so called "Halmahera Island" locale of an Indonesian doesn't even have the same scalation?? The Halmahera Blue-Tongued Skink has 3 scales, and the Indonesian has only 2.
Maybe because it is a different species. Thanks for viewing! I hope I opened your minds!
All photo credit goes to their owner:
First photo: Jeff Greene
Second photo: Richard C.
Third photo: Mark O' Shea
Forth photo: Jeff Greene
Fifth photo: Underground Reptiles
Sixth photo: Jeff Greene and Underground Reptiles
Seventh photo: Jeff Greene and http://images.google.com/