Sphenomorphus melanopogon
—
Lesser Sunda Dark-throated Skink
I had originally tentatively identified these lizards as Sphenomorphus florensis. That species was lumped in with Sphenomorphus melanopogon in 2012.
The Ecology Asia website coined the common name "Lesser Sunda Dark-throated Skink" based on the scientific name, while freely admitting that only adults, and then only some adults, actually have dark throats.
There is a lot of variation in the appearance of these skinks that I saw on three islands. I wouldn't be surprised if they get split into different species again after further study.
The park ranger thought it was very funny that I was spending effort carefully photographing these small lizards. It seems that everyone else was only interested in lizards if they were really big. I think that's just size discrimination at its ugliest, don't you?
I found these two skinks perched on trees directly opposite each other on the trail. Seeing so many skinks clambering around on trees took me some getting used to, as most U.S. skinks are found on the ground, generally under leaf litter or larger objects.
This smaller individual was from little Satonda island. Satonda features a lake composed of brackish water left behind when a huge volcano on nearby Sumbawa caused tidal waves to drench Satonda.
My references are weak at distinguishing the various species of Sphenomorphus from location and photos alone, so it's quite possible that I'm misidentifying one or more of these skinks. If you can confirm or deny these identifications, please send me mail.
Printed references: