The Side-spotted Ground Skink or Barbour's Ground Skink (Kaestlea travancorica) is a species of skink

Skink

Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...

 endemic to southern Western Ghats

Western Ghats

The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...

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Description

A medium-sized (3.8 cm), blue-tailed forest skink. Earlier placed in the genus Scincella

Scincella

Scincella is a genus of lizards in the skink family, Scincidae, commonly referred to as ground skinks. The exact number of species in the genus is unclear, as taxonomic reclassification is ongoing, and sources vary widely...

, it is now included in the genus Kaestlea. It is diurnal and known to feed on insects on the forest floor.

Distribution

Restricted to the Western Ghats,India. Mainly known from Travancore regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala states. Studies conducted in Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve

Kalakkad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve , situated in the Southern Western Ghats in Tirunelveli district, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the second largest protected area in Tamil Nadu State.-History:...

shows that this species occurs mainly in high altitude rainforest habitat at elevations between 1,000 and 1,700 msl