Prairie skink (Eumeces septentrionalis) COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 3

Species Information

Name and classification

The Prairie Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis, Baird 1858) consists of 3 subspecies (Crother et al. 2000), one of which, the Northern Prairie Skink (Eumeces s. septentrionalis, Baird 1858), occurs in Canada. The other two subspecies are the Southern Prairie Skink (E. s. obtusirostris, Bocourt 1879) and the Pallid Skink (E. s. pallidus, Smith and Slater 1849). The Pallid Skink is not commonly recognized; however, it has not been explicitly addressed as either a synonym of the Northern or Southern Prairie Skink (Crother et al. 2000). Some authors consider the Northern and Southern Prairie Skinks to be distinct species (Collins and Taggart 2002). An examination of the genetics of the Prairie Skink is currently underway and includes samples from Manitoba (G. Fuerst, pers. comm., 2003).

Description

The Prairie Skink is a small, slender lizard, growing to approximately 85 mm snout-vent length SVL (Figure 1).  Most adults are less than 80 mm SVL. The tail can be approximately the same length as the body. The Prairie Skink is brown with 4 light stripes running the length of the body and onto the tail. Males have reddish orange on the head and throat during the breeding season. Juveniles have bright blue tails.

Figure 1. Picture of Prairie Skink. Photo by Errol Bredin.

Figure 1. Picture of Prairie Skink. Photo by Errol Bredin

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