Gilbert's Skink (Plestiodon gilberti)
Description: Gilbert's skink is a heavy-bodied lizard with small legs. Adults are uniformly colored in green, grey, olive or brown. Juveniles have light stripes on the sides and the back enclosing a broad black or brown stripe. This dark stripe stops near base of a waxy-pink tail. The striping fades with growth and maturation.
Habitat: Gilbert's skink occurs in habitats ranging from sea level to elevations of about 2,200 m (7,200 ft). Found in a wide variety of habitats, this lizard is commonest in early successional stages or open areas within habitats in which it occurs, which range from grassland to open chaparral or open pine forests. Heavy brush and densely forested areas are generally avoided.
Range: Gilbert's skink occurs mainly in California. It is found in the northern San Joaquin Valley, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada from Butte County southward, and along the inner flanks of the Coast Ranges from San Francisco Bay to the Mexican border and into northern Baja California. It is also found in the mountains of southern California, and at scattered mountain localities in the eastern desert from Mono County to San Bernardino County. Isolated populations also occur in western Arizona as well as in southern Nevada.
Found in these States:
AZ |
CA |
NV
Diet: Primarily eats a variety of small ground-dwelling invertebrates, but as cannibalism has been reported, small vertebrates are probably occasionally consumed.
Reproduction: The reproductive season for P. gilberti varies geographically and from year to year depending on local conditions. Little is known about the timing of reproduction, but it is probably similar to the Western Skink. Adult females construct nest chambers in loose moist soil several centimeters deep, especially under flat stones. Clutch size varies from 3 to 9 eggs.
Status: Listed as Least Concern in view of its wide distribution, tolerance of a broad range of habitats, presumed large population, and because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Plestiodon gilberti", 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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