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Barrier skink
Oligosoma judgei
The Barrier skink (Oligosoma judgei) is a species of medium-sized skink, a lizard in the subfamily Eugongylinae of the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to New Zealand, where it lives in the alpine habitat of the Darran and Takitimu Mountains of Fiordland. It is one of only two species of New Zealand skinks that live exclusively in the alpine zone, the other being the "Sinbad skink", Oligosoma pikitanga, a closely related species of similar appearance which is found in the same part of the South Island. The Barrier skink was first collected in the 1960s but was overlooked until rediscovery by a pair of mountain climbers in 2005; the species was scientifically described in 2009.
From the article Barrier skink on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
The holotype of O. judgei, an adult male, has a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 8 cm (3.1 in), but females may grow to 9 cm (3.5 in) SVL.
Range & habitat
The preferred natural habitat of O. judgei is rocky areas of grassland, at altitudes of 1,100–1,650 m (3,610–5,410 ft).
Wikipedia: “Habitat”
In human culture
The specific name, judgei, is in honor of Bronwyn Judge and Murray Judge, two New Zealand rock climbers who discovered this skink on Barrier Knob.
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Oligosoma judgei in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 107490.