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Ground Skink
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- Order: Squamata (scaled reptiles)
- Suborder: Lacertilia (=Sauria) (lizards)
- Family: Scincidae (skinks)
- Genus: Scincella (ground skinks)
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| Also known as: little
brown skink |
Scientific Name: Scincella
lateralis (Say, 1823) |
| Habitat: Open
woodland, fields, suburbs; anywhere with plenty of ground cover. |
Scincus="lizard/skink," ella="little,"
lateralis="of the side" (stripes)
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| Length: To just over 5
inches total. |
Former Scientific
Names: Lygosoma laterale, Scincella laterale |
| Food: Various small
insects and arachnids. |
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| Ground skinks can be locally
abundant, but most people wouldn't even know they existed.
They are fairly secretive and spend most of their time rooting
through leaf litter looking for food. Usually the only clue
of their presence is the rustling of the leaves. These
skinks are pretty low on the food chain, and serve as a plentiful
prey item for many animals, including larger snakes and lizards. |
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| This skink was found under tin
in southwestern Arkansas in October 2004. Surprisingly, it
had its original tail! Most ground skinks I've seen had
missing or regenerated tails. Since they're a common food
item for other animals, they get attacked frequently, and a
detachable tail serves to distract the predator while the lizard
escapes. |
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| See also the ground skinks from Oklahoma
and Texas. |
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