American Five-lined Skink (adult male)

Description:

The American Five-lined Skink is small to medium sized, growing to about 12.5 to 21.5 centimetres (4.9 to 8.5 in) total length. Young Five-lined Skinks are dark brown to black with five distinctive white to yellowish stripes running along the body and a bright blue tail. The blue color fades to light blue with age, and the stripes also may slowly disappear. The dark brown color fades, too, and older individuals are often uniformly brownish.

Habitat:

On the boardwalk at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve.

Notes:

It is technically appropriate to call it the "American Five-lined Skink" to distinguish it from the African skink Trachylepis quinquetaeniata (otherwise known as Five-lined Mabuya), or "Eastern Red-headed Skink" to distinguish it from its western relative Plestiodon skiltonianus (otherwise known as Western Skink). The Blue-tailed Skink proper is Cryptoblepharus egeriae from Christmas Island, but in North America the juveniles of any Eumeces or Plestiodon species may be called this.