Threatened Species Factsheet No. 21 ANATOM SKINK

What are they called? What do they look like? Scientific: This lizard is around 7-10cm long, Emoia aneityumensis including a long tail. It is light brown Other Common with some orange-brown, dark-green English: Anatom Emo and some grey colouring and small Skink, Medway’s Emo Skink dark spots down it’s sides. Underneath it is creamy white. It’s French: whole body is covered in smooth Bislama: Anatom Skink moderate-sized scales. Vernacular: Similar Emoia skinks , such as the Emoia samoensis in Samoa, can be found on multiple islands of Vanuatu A little bit about them: and the Pacific. It is often very Skinks are lizard reptiles. difficult to tell the difference by eye The Anatom Skink lives alone. The only difference when in undisturbed forest looking at the picture below away from humans. It compared to the Anatom skink is the lives in trees, from rainforest to dry coastal number of small scales on it’s sides forests on Aneityum and fingers. island in southern Vanuatu (and it is not found on neighbouring islands). Females lay about 4-5 eggs at a time and it is thought the females descend to the ground to lay them in the forest floor litter near the base of a tree. Skinks eat small Source: IUCNredlist.org entry for Samoan Skink invertebrates (mostly insects) although the diet of this species is Did you know? largely unknown. • This species is only found on It is very difficult to find. Aneityum island! The Anatom Skink is classified What they do for us? as Endangered on the IUCN Ø Skinks are important in food Red List. chains. They eat and control Why are they threatened? populations of insects that Ø Their major threat is habitat can be pests or carry loss by logging and diseases. agricultural expansion. Ø They are food for bigger Ø They only live on one small animals. island so they are at risk of Ø They help disperse seeds. being wiped out by one Ø Lizards are biological natural disaster such as a indicators for health of severe cyclone. ecosystems as they are sensitive to changes in their Ø They are also at risk of the environment. pet trade industry even though it is illegal to take Ø There are only 19 species of these lizards out of their lizards in Vanuatu, and only 4 are endemic. natural environment.

What can we do for them? ü Manage logging in sustainable forests only. ü Establishing protected areas that include the habitat of the Anatom skink in Aneityum.

Want to know more?

v Visit: www.iucnredlist.org v Visit: The Reptile Database online http://www.reptile- database.org/ v Read Reptiles and Amphibians of the Pacific Islands by G.R. Zug.