Ornate Skink

The ornate skink is a robust North Island ground skink patterned with cream blotches and a distinctive facial teardrop. A pale black-edged teardrop below the eye and large cream or silver blotches distinguish it from the smaller copper skink.

It occurs through much of the North Island and several offshore islands in damp, shaded ground cover. It forages beneath litter and logs for invertebrates and also takes fruit, rarely remaining exposed for long.

Ornate skink is At Risk — Declining (NZ Threat Classification). Predator-managed North Island forest and island reserves offer the best chance, especially near deep litter.