Food Eats a variety of small insects and spiders. Life Cycle Life Cycle. Human Connections Skinks are among many reptiles that easily shed their tails and regrow new ones. Ecosystem Connections Like most other lizards, this species preys on insects and other small animals and therefore helps maintain their numbers in a natural balance.
Similar Species. Common Five-Lined Skink. Broad-Headed Skink. Little Brown Skink. Great Plains Skink. Northern Prairie Skink. About Reptiles and Amphibians in Missouri. Amphibians, including salamanders, toads, and frogs, are vertebrate animals that spend at least part of their life cycle in water. They usually have moist skin, lack scales or claws, and are ectothermal cold-blooded , so they do not produce their own body heat the way birds and mammals do.
Reptiles, including turtles, lizards, and snakes, are also vertebrates, and most are ectothermal, but unlike amphibians, reptiles have dry skin with scales, the ones with legs have claws, and they do not have to live part of their lives in water. Amphibian and Reptile Facts. Lizard Facts. Reproduction: Female coal skinks lay clutches of several eggs in moist soil or rotten logs during the summer and attend the eggs until they hatch. Abundance: Coal skinks are uncommon, even within their restricted range.
Research is necessary to determine the status of this species in Georgia and South Carolina. Willson unless otherwise noted Description: 5 - 7 in Herp Home. SREL Home. Coal skinks live in forested places, usually near a swamp or other wetland. You might see one on a rocky hillside near a wetland. Unlike five-lined skinks, they do not bask in the sun; they are commonly found under the leaf litter, or under loose flat rocks or moss.
Their coloration helps them hid on the forest floor. If they get frightened, they run to water. Coal skins are the smallest of our native lizards, measuring about seven inches long from nose to tail. Their diet consists of insects, including crickets, millipedes, and spiders. Lastly, the northern fence lizard Sceloporus undulatus hyacinthinus is a state threatened lizard that lives in the southeastern park of the state. Their common name comes from their habit of basking in the sun on fence railings.
Male northern fence lizards have unpatterned grayish-brown back, bluish sides that are boarded by black and blue throats. Females, on the other hand, have a distinct pattern on their back of irregular wavy cross bands; their bellies are white and there is a patch of either red, yellow, or orange at the base of their tails. Fence lizards measure up to seven and a half inches long.
They prefer to live on dry, rocky hillsides in oak or oak-pine forests where they eat insects and spiders. They can be active both day and night, depending on the temperature.
If you are lucky, you might come upon a male fence lizard during mating season. If you do, stop to watch him defend his territory by standing stiff-legged and pushing out his head to show his blue throat. Remember that these are wild lizards and should never be taken home as pets. Collection has caused the populations of our native lizards to decline in some areas.
Fence lizards occur in a few locations in eastern NY, including in some of our state parks. NYS Dept. See below If a skink loses part of its tail to a predator or they release their tail to escape a predator, it will regrow regenerate a new tail.
Juvenile five-lined skink, note the blue tail. Photo by State Parks.
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