Day 10 - Genus Riopa and the colours of the rainbow!

Genus Riopa from Thiruvalluvar Nagar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, IN on July 07, 2025 at 07:35 AM by flowergirl_madras � iNaturalist

After a warm and still night, the sun was out rather too bright and early for me.

Today's morning walk was not on the beach, therefore, but in the bylanes of Kottivakkam.  The lanes of Raja Gardens is a lovely place - there are many wild, untended empty plots and leaf litter by the side of the roads.  Garbage collection is good, and there is no stray dog feeding, and that keeps the population of stray dogs down.  The walking "hazard" here, is the two popular neighbourhood schools, with parents whizzing this way and that on their two wheelers, making sure their children each on time! 

I digress, as usual.

We saw two white-breasted water hens in one of the empty plots, along with this skink

Genus Riopa for sure.  But is it a Common Dotted Garden Skink Riopa punctata or a 

White-spotted Supple Skink Riopa albopunctata, I could not say.  What do you think?

The small legs of skinks makes them move like snakes, slithering along, rather than scooting along. My friend also slithered away into the moist undergrowth near a leaky pipe.  It was a young one, 3-4 inches long from head to ail, with that lovely red tail.  The tails (like lizards), can regenerate - they will drop them when attacked.

The colours of the rainbow in an oil slick on the road!

I am hoping for rains tonight!