Chevron Skink

Fascinating facts about the Chevron Skink

• A single 1906 specimen sat mislabeled on a museum shelf for 70 years until Graham S. Hardy uncovered 13 living individuals on Great Barrier Island, proving that a “lost” species can hide in plain sight. The discovery sparked a taxonomic resurrection that restored Oligosoma homalonotum to its own genus in 1995. It shows how a tiny clerical error can keep an entire lineage out of science for decades.
• At up to 340 mm (13 in) total length, the chevron skink holds the title of New Zealand’s longest skink, even though its snout–vent length is just 146 mm (5.7 in).
• Despite being a daytime hunter, the skink can retreat underwater and hold its breath, and juveniles cling to rocky banks and debris dams while adults are occasionally found in trees.
• Research traps catch roughly one chevron skink per 400 trap-days on Great Barrier Island, yet on Little Barrier Island only two individuals have been recorded after more than 20,000 trap-days. Such stark contrast highlights how introduced rats and cats have turned once-wide mainland reptiles into island “pseudo-endemics.”
• A single female can produce litters of up to eight young each late summer, reaching sexual maturity only after three to four years and living up to two decades in the wild. This slow-but-steady life history means each birth is vital for population stability, especially when predator control and zoo breeding programs aim to pull the species back from the brink.

At a glance

About the Chevron Skink

The chevron skink (Oligosoma homalonotum), known in Māori as niho taniwha, is New Zealand’s longest native skink, stretching up to 340 mm (13 in) from snout to tail. Its light reddish-brown body fades to grey on the neck and head, punctuated by a series of arrow-shaped chevrons that point toward the head, as well as distinctive “teardrop” markings on the upper and lower jaws and two black vertical bars beneath the eye separated by a yellow band. A flattened, subquadrangular torso and a long, slender tail give it a sleek silhouette, while smooth subdigital lamellae on the fourth toe aid its secretive, semi-aquatic lifestyle. It dwells in dense native forest on Great Barrier and Little Barrier islands, favouring humid stream margins, clay banks, and even kingfisher or spider holes, where it can disappear beneath water and hold its breath to evade predators. Despite being diurnal, this skink is a master of camouflage, blending into fern fronds and leaf litter while hunting spiders, insect larvae and small snails. Juveniles cling to rocky stream banks, constructing debris dams and nesting in crests, whereas adults are occasionally spotted in the canopy. Reaching sexual maturity at three to four years, females produce litters of up to eight in late summer–early autumn and can live as long as two decades.

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