Coal Skink (Plestiodon anthracinus)
Description: It grows to 5.1–7.1 inches in total length with a maximum snout to vent length (SVL) of 2.8 inches. It is a four-lined skink whose light stripes extend onto the tail. The broad dark lateral stripe is 4-4.5 scales wide and there are no light lines on top of the head. The dorsolateral light stripe is on the edges of the 3rd and 4th scale rows, counting from midline of back. One postmental scale is present. The sides of the head of the male are reddish during spring breeding season, at least in some parts of the range.
Habitat: The more humid portions of wooded hillsides with abundant leaf litter or loose stones are favorite habitats. Coal skinks' habitat may also include areas around springs and rocky bluffs overlooking creek valleys. If pursued, they will take refuge in shallow water, going to the bottom and hiding under stones or debris.
Range: This lizard is endemic to the United States. It occurs in scattered, disjunct subpopulations, extending from western New York and Pennsylvania to the Florida panhandle and Gulf Coast, west to eastern Texas, eastern Oklahoma, and eastern Kansas.
Diet: Coal skinks presumably prey on a wide variety of insects, spiders, and other invertebrates.
Reproduction: The coal skink mates in spring or early summer, laying a clutch of 8 or 9 eggs. The young hatch after four to five weeks and are about 2.0 inches long. The hatchlings have a blue tail; those of the northern coal skink are striped like the adults, but young southern coal skinks have black bodies with at the utmost faint traces of stripes.
Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of the large and apparently relatively stable extent of occurrence, area of occupancy, number of subpopulations, and population size. No major threats are known.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Plestiodon anthracinus", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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