Sunday 19 May
Falla’s skink (Oligosoma fallai)

What’s the World’s Favourite Species?
Find out here.Falla’s skink fact file
- Description
- Biology
- Range
- Habitat
- Status
- Threats
- Conservation
- Find out more
- Glossary
- References
- Print factsheet
Falla’s skink description
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Reptilia |
| Order | Squamata |
| Family | Scincidae |
| Genus | Oligosoma (1) |
One of New Zealand’s largest skinks (2), Falla’s skink (Oligosoma fallai) has, like other skinks, a roughly cylindrical body and short limbs (4). Its mottled brown body, speckled with flecks of yellow, provides camouflage in its natural habitat (5).
- Also known as
- Three Kings skink.
- Synonyms
- Leiolopisma fallai.
- Size
- Maximum snout-vent length: c. 140 mm (2)
- Maximum tail length: c. 150 mm (3)
- Average weight: 44.5 g (3)
-
Towns, D.R., Neilson, K.A. and Whitaker, A.H. (2002) North Island Oligosoma spp. Skink Recovery Plan 2002–2012. Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand. Available at:
www.doc.govt.nz - Endemic
- A species or taxonomic group that is only found in one particular country or geographic area.
- Invertebrates
- Animals with no backbone.
- Omnivorous
- Feeding on both plants and animals.
-
IUCN Red List (February, 2011)
http://www.iucnredlist.org - Towns, D.R., Neilson, K.A. and Whitaker, A.H. (2002) North Island Oligosoma spp. Skink Recovery Plan 2002–2012. Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand.
- Parrish, G.R. and Gill, B.J. (2003) Natural history of the lizards of the Three Kings Islands, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 30: 205 - 220.
- Halliday, T. and Adler, K. (2002) The New Encyclopedia of Reptiles and Amphibians. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
-
Auckland Zoo (May, 2008)
http://www.aucklandzoo.co.nz - Patterson, G.B. and Daugherty, C.H. (1995) Reinstatement of the genus Oligosoma (Reptilia: Lacertilia: Scincidae). Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 25(3): 327 - 331.
- view the contents of, and Material on, the website;
- download and retain copies of the Material on their personal systems in digital form in low resolution for their own personal use;
- teachers, lecturers and students may incorporate the Material in their educational material (including, but not limited to, their lesson plans, presentations, worksheets and projects) in hard copy and digital format for use within a registered educational establishment, provided that the integrity of the Material is maintained and that copyright ownership and authorship is appropriately acknowledged by the End User.
Falla’s skink biology
Falla’s skinks are omnivorous lizards that feed on invertebrates, seeds, leaves, fleshy fruits, such as the small reddish-purple fruits of the Ngaio tree (Myoporum laetum), and even the spilled regurgitations of sea birds (2) (3). For most of the year, Falla’s skinks are active during the day and are most energetic on warm, sunny days, however, at times this lizard may also be active during the night (2) (3).
Mating is believed to take place in autumn, with live young being born primarily during the summer (2) (6), but some give birth as early as February or as late as the following autumn (3). It is thought that not all female Falla's skinks give birth every year, but those that do give birth to an average of five young (3).
TopFalla’s skink range
Falla’s skink is endemic to the Three Kings Islands, a group of islands situated 60 kilometres off Cape Reinga, the northernmost point of the North Island, New Zealand (2) (3). Within this island group, Falla’s skink inhabits at least seven islands and islets (2).
TopFalla’s skink habitat
The Three Kings Islands are rugged, mostly cliff-bound islands, within which Falla’s skink inhabits scrub and forest, particularly low, open forest (2) (3).
TopFalla’s skink status
Falla's skink is classified as Vulnerable (VU) on the IUCN Red List (1).
TopFalla’s skink threats
In the past, the habitat of the Three Kings Islands was heavily modified by its Maori inhabitants and by the introduction of goats. It is not known what effect this may have had on skink populations, but with the removal of goats from the islands in 1946, habitat degradation is no longer believed to be a great threat to Falla’s skink (2).
Today, the most significant threats are the possibility of a predator introduction and catastrophic climatic events, which due to the restricted distribution of Falla’s skink, could potentially impact the entire population. Introduced predators are of particular concern as some of the islands in the Three Kings group are less than a kilometre apart, meaning that introduced predators, such as Norway rats, could swim between them (2).
TopFalla’s skink conservation
As introduced predators pose the greatest potential threat to this species, an action plan for Oligosoma skinks developed in 2002 focuses on measures which could be taken to ensure against this happening (2). In recent years, introduced rodents have been removed from numerous islands around the North Island (2), which will help lessen the chance of their introduction to the Three Kings Islands. The plan recommends that the Three King Islands should be checked for rodents every six months (2).
TopFind out more
For further information on Falla’s skink:
Authentication
This information is awaiting authentication by a species expert, and will be updated as soon as possible. If you are able to help please contact:
arkive@wildscreen.org.uk
Glossary
References
More »Related species
This species is featured in:
This species is affected by global climate
change. To learn about climate change
and the species that are affected,
visit our climate change pages.
Close
Image credit
© Paddy Ryan
Paddy Ryan
Ryan Photographic
2802 East 132nd Circle
Thornton
CO
80241
USA
Tel: +01 (303) 457 9795
paddyaryan@aol.com
http://www.ryanphotographic.com/
Close
Link to this photo
Embed this ARKive thumbnail link by copying and pasting the code below.
Terms of Use - The displayed thumbnail may be used as a link from your website to ARKive's online content for private, scientific, conservation or educational purposes only. It may NOT be used within Apps.
Read more about
Close
MyARKive
MyARKive offers the scrapbook feature to signed-up members, allowing you to organize your favourite ARKive images and videos and share them with friends.
Close
Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials
Copyright in this website and materials contained on this website (Material) belongs to Wildscreen or its licensors.
Visitors to this website (End Users) are entitled to:
End Users shall not copy or otherwise extract, alter or manipulate Material other than as permitted in these Terms and Conditions of Use of Materials.
Additional use of flagged material
Green flagged material 
Certain Material on this website (Licence 4 Material) displays a green flag next to the Material and is available for not-for-profit conservation or educational use. This material may be used by End Users, who are individuals or organisations that are in our opinion not-for-profit, for their not-for-profit conservation or not-for-profit educational purposes. Low resolution, watermarked images may be copied from this website by such End Users for such purposes. If you require high resolution or non-watermarked versions of the Material, please contact Wildscreen with details of your proposed use.
Creative commons material
Certain Material on this website has been licensed to Wildscreen under a Creative Commons Licence. These images are clearly marked with the Creative Commons buttons and may be used by End Users only in the way allowed by the specific Creative Commons Licence under which they have been submitted. Please see http://creativecommons.org for details.
Any other use
Please contact the copyright owners directly (copyright and contact details are shown for each media item) to negotiate terms and conditions for any use of Material other than those expressly permitted above. Please note that many of the contributors to ARKive are commercial operators and may request a fee for such use.
Save as permitted above, no person or organisation is permitted to incorporate any copyright material from this website into any other work or publication in any format (this includes but is not limited to: websites, Apps, CDs, DVDs, intranets, extranets, signage, digital communications or on printed materials for external or other distribution). Use of the Material for promotional, administrative or for-profit purposes is not permitted.














