Five-lined Skink
Eumeces fasciatus

by Jeff LeClere

Status

The five-lined skink was listed as Endangered (Oldfield and Moriarty, 1994) until 1996 when Minnesota updated its Endangered and Threatened Species list. New populations have been discovered causing it to be reclassified as a Species of Special Concern in Minnesota.

Description

The five-lined skink reaches 5 - 8 1/2 inches total length (Conant and Collins 1991). Scalation same as in prairie skink; smooth. Adults are brown or black with no pronounced color change on the sides with five light narrow stripes down the back and sides. These stripes are always thinner than the spaces between them. The head is marked with a light V that stems from the middorsal stripe. Old males may become a uniform gold brown or olive color with only faint traces of striping. Both striped and uniformly colored males develop orange lips during the breeding season like prairie skinks. Young have bright blue tails that fade in males, but the females' tails may retain a blue-gray coloration.

Subspecies

There are no recognized subspecies of the five-lined skink, Eumeces fasciatus.

Range

Five-lined skinks are known from the following counties: Chisago, Yellow Medicine, Renville, Redwood, Hennepin, Houston, Fillmore, and a sighting from Winona. There may be additional counties that they have been recorded from that are not yet published.

Habitat

Five-lined skinks are from wooded areas with granite or limestone rock outcroppings.

Habits

Five-lined skinks emerge from their winter dormancy in late April. They may bask atop rocks or logs and actively forage for their food. They are diurnal, but they often take refuge under rocks or logs during the hottest parts of the day in mid-summer. Five-lineds are accomplished burrowers, and often form "dugouts" under rocks or similar cover. Five-lined skinks are often found in small colonies around rock outcroppings in the open areas on bluffs. Breeding occurs in spring. The male grasps the skin of the female's neck during copulation. They are oviparous laying about 10 eggs sometime in June in small excavations under forms of cover such as rocks, logs or boards. Females guard the eggs and eat the ones that have spoiled (Oldfield and Moriarty, 1994). The eggs hatch in August. I have observed E. fasciatus hatching in Jackson County, IA. on August 21. The young were jet black with five thin, yellow lines down the back and had bright blue tails. They were a little over 2 inches at hatching.

All of Minnesota's lizards are quick and rely on speed to escape when they are out and about. The skinks look like small snakes slithering through the brush as they move their bodies in a very serpentine way when they run. One must use caution when trying to capture skinks. Often one will end up with nothing but a wriggling tail as the lizard scoots off to safety. Skinks may also break their tails off by themselves by pushing it against a solid structure. The tail will regenerate, but it will have no pattern, will have slightly different scalation, and will never be as long as the original one. Minnesota's lizards hibernate underground in burrows they dig, and five-lined skinks hibernate in rock crevices and tunnels. They usually begin hibernating in September.

Food

All three species of Minnesota's lizards eat small invertebrates such as crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, spiders, caterpillars, which they chase down and eat. They mash their food up with their strong jaws before swallowing it.