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Introduction
The small brown skink Leiolopisma zelandica (Gray, 1843) is perhaps the most abundant and widely distributed New Zealand reptile. It is therefore remarkable that the life history and habits of this lizard, known since the days of New Zealand's first explorers, have never been more than casually discussed. Indeed, few facts have been recorded concerning the habits, ecology or life history of any New Zealand lizard.
Leiolopisma zelandica was first described by Gray in 1843 as Tiliqua ornata from material collected by Ernst Dieffenbach during his travels as naturalist to the New Zealand Company. Gray's description was incorporated in Dieffenbach's “Travels in New Zealand” and subsequently in the “Catalogue of Lizards in the Collection of the British Museum” which Gray published in 1845. Numerous changes of name and position were later accorded to the species, which was included in Boulenger's great Catalogue of 1887 as part of the species Lygosoma moco. McCann (1955) distinguished and redescribed Leiolopisma zelandica as a valid species in his recent revision of the lizards of New Zealand.
The genus Leiolopisma has a wide distribution; Asia, North and Central America, Australia, and New Zealand. No extensive account of any member of the genus has yet appeared. Lewis (1951) described some aspects of the biology of Leiolopisma laterale (Say) which occurs in the eastern and southern United States. Breckenridge (1943) and Fitch (1954) have carried out detailed studies on the life histories of two oviparous scincid lizards, both of the genus Eumeces. The most comprehensive of these accounts is that by Fitch, who studied the life history and
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ecology of Eumeces fasciatus (Linnaeus) over a five-year period. The life history of Leiolopisma zelandica is not entirely comparable with that of skinks studied in detail by previous workers, since the species is viviparous. So far as is known, the present study is the first to appear on a viviparous skink.
Leiolopisma zelandica is a quietly moving, wary lizard, secretive in its habits and usually seen moving in a normal manner only when the observer remains still and quiet in one spot. The species lives in almost any small area offering sufficient cover, moisture, food, and sunlight. Almost every city garden, coastal beach and shingle river bed has a skink population. Where suitable habitats are present, the species occurs well inland, although it is generally more plentiful in coastal areas. Under optimum conditions local populations may be very large, far larger than is apparent to the casual observer.
New Zealand does not have a very diverse fauna, and the skink has few direct competitors. This, together with the absence of a wide range of skink predators, means that skinks are relatively secure animals capable of forming dense local populations.
The study presented here has been primarily a field one, carried out to determine the main features of reproduction, growth habits and behaviour, and was conducted in an area containing what proved to be a denser population of Leiolopisma zelandica than was originally anticipated. This area lies within the limits of the city of Wellington and was sufficiently close to the university to allow field observations to be made at regular intervals. The study commenced in March, 1954, and was continued to October, 1955, the period being long enough to obtain information on many aspects of the natural history of Leiolopisma zelandica, the common brown skink.