Narrow Banded Sand-swimmer  
Eremiascinus fasciolatus

 Its named a 'sand-swimmer' due to the way it dives into the sand when its trying to get away.  To do this the nose or snout is pointy and pushes through beneath the sand.  We didn't see it do that here as it was on rock.  There are two species in this Eremiascincus genus. 

It is nocturnal and lives on the land preferring sandy soils but this one was found down at the bottom of the Weano gorge at  Karijini National Park in the Pilbara in late December.

It had five fingers and toes on each foot and its scales were smooth and glossy.  It is an egg laying skink.

This skink was just on its way out for the night as it was nearly sunset when we came across it.  Down in the gorge it gets darker earlier. 

This was our lucky skink as it saved us from possibly walking straight onto a desert death adder which had just come out on the path in front of us.  While we stopped to take the photo of the skink  my daughter looked up to see the adder just a few metres away.  We gave the snake plenty of room and walked up out of the gorge.

 What do they eat? 

Insects such as centipedes, spiders and crickets.  Adults may feed near one another. According to "Australian Reptiles" by Stephen K Wilson and David G Knowles, this skink waves its tail in a cat-like manner before advancing on its prey of termites or sometimes smaller reptiles.  It would probably be harder to find termites down in a gorge.

This spider was photographed in the Kalamina gorge in the Karijini National Park in the Pilbara.

Text;
"Australian Reptiles A Photographic Reference to the Terrestrial Reptiles of Australia" by Stephen K Wilson, David G Knowles.
CD Rom "Australian Reptiles and Frogs" by Herald Ehnann and Micheal Tyler

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