Gigas?
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2020 4:52 pm
by ChristianH26
Forgive me if I’m completely wrong here but the Latin name for Indo blueys is Tiliqua Gigas (meaning giants I think) but indo skinks are smaller than Australian skinks so why are the smaller indo skinks called gigas’? If there was ever a definition for shower thoughts I think this would be it

Re: Gigas?
Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2020 6:09 pm
by mb606587
Interesting. To be fair though, only one species of Australian skink is predominately larger than most of the Indonesian skinks, and that's the Northern. One could make a case that Tiliqua gigas evanescens (Merauke), sometimes at 30"+, is the largest species of skink, only rivaled by the Prehensile Tailed Skink of the Solomon Islands. The Merauke Blue Tongue Skink is also colloquially referred to as the Giant Blue Tongue Skink, and only received a subspecies designation in 2000. So prior to that, it was only known as Tiliqua Gigas.
Re: Gigas?
Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2020 12:55 am
by ChristianH26
Ah okay that makes more sense. Thanks for clearing it up
