Since I have been in Louisiana I have seen some lizards running around. I knew they looked familiar from my herpetology (the study of amphibians and reptiles) class, but I was not entirely sure what they were. I saw what I thought were two species. Then it hit me what one of the species was, well sort of. It had lines running down its back and a blue tail and I remembered something I thought was called a seven-lined racerunner. I knew that wasn't right so I looked it up and found it to be a six-lined racerunner. I was confident in this for a couple weeks, but I still didn't know what the other species was. Upon further research I realized that what I thought was six-lined racerunner was actually a five-lined skink (many similar names in the world of herpetology). While reading the information I learned that the species I didn't know was actually the same species just older individuals. Five-lined skinks are interesting little lizards.
Five-lined skinks are brown or black medium sized lizards that can get up to 8.5 inches. Younger lizards will have five pale stripes. These stripes will fade away as the skinks get older an they will look all brown. That is why I thought they were different species. young skinks have bright blue tails that will also fade in the males. Males have bright red under their chin during breeding season.
Five-lined skinks are a common lizard found across the eastern and southern United States. They are active during the day and like to bask on logs and rocks during the day. They are found in woods with logs, stumps, rock piles, and plenty of leaves on the ground. The skinks will also climb trees in search of prey. They eat a lot of invertebrates, mostly insects, spiders, slugs, and worms.
Five-lined skinks are neat looking lizards that I am excited to see whenever they appear. They usually tend to run away whenever I get close, but they are still really cool. I hope to see a lot more and hopefully a few more species of reptiles and amphibians
Articles
Five-lined skink
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
Missouri Department of Conservation
Pictures
Adult Skink
Other Photos by Justin Hohlen
No comments:
Post a Comment