Striped Skink

The striped skink is a rarely encountered North Island canopy skink with bold cream-edged stripes. Broad pale stripes bordered in dark brown run along a fawn-to-brown back; the pale belly is heavily dark-flecked.

It ranges from Kaipara and the Waitākere Ranges through central North Island forests to Taranaki, Rotorua and near Gisborne, and occurs on Aotea and Hauturu. It basks by day around epiphytes or rotting logs and eats small insects, spiders and isopods; females bear three to eight young.

Striped skink is At Risk — Declining (NZ Threat Classification); loss of mature canopy and decaying-log habitat contributes to decline. It is exceptionally difficult to detect because much of its life is spent in forest canopy epiphytes.