ABOVE GROUND BLOSSOM-FEEDING ON INVERTEBRATES BY THE METALLIC SKINK (NIVEOSCINCUS METALLICUS) AND THE DELICATE SKINK (LAMPROPHOLIS DELICA TA) IN TASMANIA

摘要

The scincid lizards Niveoscincus metallicus and Lampropholis delicata are common and widespread in Tasmania, thriving in many urban habitats (Hutchinson et al. 2001; author's obs.). Both species, but particularly L. delicata, are considered obligate ground dwellers, feeding on a wide range of leaf litter-inhabiting invertebrates (Lunney et al. 1989; Melville & Swain 1999; Howard et al. 2003). Throughout January and February 2015, individuals of both species were observed up to one metre off the ground amongst the densely packed blossom of the shrub Baeckea virgata (Myrtaceae)* where they were catching small nectar-feeding invertebrates, mainly Diptera and Hymenoptera (Plates 1 & 2). The author planted eight B. virgata of the dwarf form (marketed as 'compacta') alongside a path five years ago at Riverside, Launceston. They have since grown to one metre in height and have formed a dense interlocking hedge six metres in length. These shrubs form very dense clusters of white nectar-rich flowers in summer and attract large numbers of nectar-feeding invertebrates in a number of families (Fearn & Maynard 2013). Throughout the flowering period from January to March a number of individuals of both lizard species were observed basking and hunting on top of these shrubs up to one metre off the ground. In a previous work (Fearn 2008) the same behaviour was recorded in the same shrubs for a sub-adult specimen of the ocellated skink N. ocellatus.