Prairie Skink
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| Prairie Skink | ||||||||||||||||
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| Missing image Eumeces_septentrionalis.jpg Northern Prairie Skink (Photo: Keir Morse) | ||||||||||||||||
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| Eumeces septentrionalis Baird, 1859 |
The Prairie Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis) is a skink living in the prairies east of the Rocky Mountains in North America. It is one of only five species of lizards that occur in Canada.
Taxonomy
The Prairie Skink has first been described by Baird in 1859. Two subspecies are generally recognized:
- Northern Prairie Skink, E.s. septentrionalis (Baird, 1859, as Plestiodon septentrionalis)
- Southern Prairie Skink, E.s. obtusirostris (Bocourt, 1879, as E. obtusirostris)
A third subspecies has been described as E.s. pallidus, the "Pallid Skink", by Smith and Slater in 1949, but this subspecies is absent from the literature for the past more than 40 years, and it is unclear whether it exists or coincides with one of the other two subspecies.
The scientific name of the species derives from Latin: septentrionalis means "northern". Latin obtusirostris means "blunt-nosed". Despite the scientific name E.s. obtusirostris translating to "blunt-nosed northern great skink", it is a southern species.
Description
The Prairie Skink is a small lizard, reaching a length of about 13 to 22 cm (5 to nearly 9 inches). Adult Prairie Skinks are brown or tan on the back and darker on the sides and have several thin lighter stripes along the sides and the back. Juveniles have bright blue tails whose color fades when they mature.
Prairie skinks are good burrowers, they hibernate in burrows they dig themselves below frost line. They are very secretive and are rarely seen in the open except during their breeding season in spring. They feed on small invertebrates, preferring spiders, crickets, and grasshoppers, but avoiding ants.
Life History
Prairie Skinks hibernate from about September to late April. In spring, when they emerge, the males start developing a bright orange coloring on the jaws and throat: the breeding season has begun. The female lays eight to ten eggs after a gestation time of about 40 days. The eggs hatch in August; hatchlings are about 5 cm (2 in) long. They reach sexual maturity in their third year.
Range and Habitat
Distribution of the Northern and Southern Prairie Skink
The Prairie Skink occurs throughout the prairies of the United States from the Canadian border down to the Gulf coast.
The Northern subspecies' range extends from eastern North Dakota and Minnesota southwards until central Kansas. An small isolated population lives in southwestern Manitoba in Canada — these are Manitoba's only lizards and one of only five species of lizards occurring in Canada, and thus the Northern Prairie Skink is protected in Canada.
The southern subspecies occurs in Oklahoma and Texas. The ranges of the two subspecies are disjunct.
The Prairie Skink lives in sandy habitat or open grasslands with loose soil, preferably with some rocks providing shelter and places to bask in the sun, and close to a water source.
External links
- Northern Prairie Skink (http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/naturenorth/2000/summer/creature/skink/Fskink3.html)
- Another description (http://www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca/search/speciesDetails_e.cfm?SpeciesID=282)