Reptiles
Many-Lined Skink
Plestiodon multivirgatus · also called many-lined skinks
Beneath a flat rock on a dry, short-grass hillside, a many-lined skink shelters from the midday heat, its body marked with more thin stripes than most people would think to count on a single lizard this small.
Overview
The many-lined skink, Plestiodon multivirgatus, is a small, secretive lizard native to short-grass prairie and rocky habitat across the central and western United States. Its unusually numerous body stripes and preference for drier, rockier terrain than several of its skink relatives make it a distinctive member of a genus already known for subtle regional variation.
A pattern that earns its own name
Where many skinks settle for a handful of stripes or none at all, the many-lined skink goes further, carrying enough thin lines down its body that counting them becomes the most straightforward way to confirm exactly which skink you’re looking at.
Status
Least Concern — widespread and stable across suitable short-grass prairie and rocky habitat throughout the central and western United States.
Many-Lined Skink: common questions
Why is it called the many-lined skink?
The many-lined skink carries a distinctly high number of thin stripes running the length of its body, more numerous than the striping pattern seen on several related skink species, a visually busy pattern that gives the species its descriptive common name.
Why does a young many-lined skink have a blue tail?
Young many-lined skinks display a bright blue tail, a colouration shared across several related skink species that likely helps direct a predator's attack toward the expendable tail rather than the body, and the colour fades as the lizard matures into a plainer adult.
Where does the many-lined skink prefer to live?
A many-lined skink often favours rocky outcrops, hillsides, and short-grass habitat, generally avoiding the denser vegetation that some other skink species prefer, and it spends much of its time burrowing through loose soil or sheltering beneath rocks and surface debris.
Where is the many-lined skink found?
The many-lined skink is native to short-grass prairie and rocky terrain across parts of the central and western United States, generally favouring drier, more open habitat than several of its skink relatives.