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Project Noah Nature School
Plestiodon sp.
Skink with a reddish head and some blue on the tail
Sandy pine and oak area at the entrance of some trails on the UCF campus
Spotted on Mar 26, 2015
Submitted on Apr 1, 2015
5 Comments
Even more fun to try and catch them haha. Annoying the only way to ID them is to have them in hand, rarely do I succeed in catching them ;)
Yes, and they even make it difficult to photograph them because they are so quick!
Of course! The skinks in the southeast can be tricky for sure, at least you got a close up photo of the head so I could count the lip scales. If not, broadhead skink would be another possibility haha
Thanks for the help Ashley!
It's either a five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) or a southeastern five-lined skink (Plestiodon inexpectarus). Only way to tell them apart is by checking the scales underneath the tail; one species has an enlarged row of scales and the other species has all the scales the same size. So will just have to leave it at genus level!