Order: Squamata

Family: Scincidae

 

Size: up to 25 cm in length.

 

Key Features: Tail 1.5 to 1.8 times length of head and body. Brown or olive-brown above, uniform or with small black spots or longitudinal lines; sides darker, with or without lighter spots; a light dorso-latexal band begins on the supraciliaries; lower surfaces yellowish (in spirit). In the breeding-season males have a scarlet band from the shoulder to the thigh.

 

Breeding: About 45% of skink species are viviparous. Many are ovoviviparous (hatching eggs internally and giving birth to live offspring). 

 

Diet: consists of Crickets, caterpillars, beetles, and earthworms and even small vertebrates.

 

Habitat: from rain forests and deserts to scrub forests and parks and gardens of houses.

 

Habits: Diurnal, and terrestrial, frequently seen basking or foraging in open areas.

 

Conservation Status: Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

Gray, J. E. (1846). Descriptions of some new species of Indian Lizards. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (1)18: 429-430.

 

Smith,M.A. (1935) Reptiles and Amphibia, Vol. II. in: The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Taylor and Francis, London, 440 pp.

 

Boulenger, G.A.(1890). Reptilia and Batrachia. In W.T. Blanford (Ed.), The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Berlin:

https://archive.org/stream/reptiliabatrachi00bouliala#page/n1/mode/2up

 

Schnirel, Brian (2004). SENI biometric analysis on the extinct Scincidae species: Macroscincus coctei. Polyphemos, Volume 1, Issue 2, May, Florence, South Carolina, U.S.A. pp. 12-22.

 

McLeod, Lianne. "Keeping Blue Tongued Skinks as Pets". Retrieved 2006-08-27.

 

Blackburn, D. G. and Flemming, A. F. (2011), Invasive implantation and intimate placental associations in a placentotrophic african lizard, Trachylepis ivensi (scincidae) Journal of Morphology.

 

IUCN Red List. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/178621/0

 

Photo Courtesy  

L. Shyamal, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons