Western Skink
Western Skink
Eumeces skiltonianus
(Scincidae)
Montana Species of Concern
Global Rank:
G5
State Rank:
S3
Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
none
BLM:
none
General Description
The western skink has a shiny appearance because the body is covered in smooth and shiny, rounded scales. The dorsal coloration consists of brown, black, and golden-yellow or cream longitudinal stripes extending from the nose to the anterior portion of the tail. Younger individuals have brilliant blue tails that become progressively duller as they age. The belly is light gray to cream-colored, with a faint greenish-blue mottling. Males develop reddish-orange coloration on the chin and sides of the head during the breeding season. Adults are about 5.0 to 8.0 centimeters snout-vent length and up to 19 centimeters total length.
Diagnostic Characteristics
The western skink is the only lizard in Montana that appears to have a smooth and shiny body, and whose tail is blue in juveniles and young adults. Western skinks lack a skin fold on the side of the body (present in northern alligator lizards) and keeled scales (present in short-horned lizards and sagebrush lizards); the distinct dorsal stripes of the western skink are not displayed by the other three species of Montana lizards. Only the northern alligator lizard occurs in the range of the western skink in Montana.
Migration
No information is currently available for Montana.
Habitat
Little information is available. In Sanders County, western skinks were found in open ponderosa pine woodland in or near talus (Boundy 2001). Skinks were reported from Mineral, Missoula, and Ravalli counties in Agropyron spicatum-Poa sandbergii grasslands on southwest aspects (Ortega and Pearson 2001). These sites were described as gentle rolling terrain (less than 20% slope) with rocky areas imbedded, to rocky and steep terrain (average slope of 30%) with scattered ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir present; many of the sites supported moderate to high densities of spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa).
Food Habits
Western skinks are invertivores.
Ecology
This species of lizard is found up to 2150 meters elevation in the Pacific Northwest. They are diurnal and may construct burrows up to 50 centimeters long (Nussbaum 1983).
Reproductive Characteristics
No information is currently available.
Citations & Sources
- Boundy, J. 2001. Herpetofaunal surveys in the Clark Fork Valley region, Montana. Herpetological Natural History 8:15-26.
- Hendricks, P. and J. D. Reichel. 1996. Amphibian and reptile survey on the Bitterroot National Forest: 1995. Unpublished report to the Bitterroot National Forest. Montana Natural Heritage Program. 95 pp.
- Maxell, B. A., J. K. Werner, P. Hendricks, and D. L. Flath. 2003. Herpetology in Montana: a history, status summary, checklists, dichotomous keys, accounts for native, potentially native, and exotic species, and indexed bibliography. Northwest Fauna Nu
- Maxell, B., Werner K.J., Hendricks, and P., Flath, D., 2003. Herpetology in Montana. Society for Northwestern Vertebrate Biology
- NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. 2002. Version 1.6 . Arlington, Virginia, USA: NatureServe. Available: http://www.natureserve.org/explorer. (Accessed: March 20, 2003 ).
- Nussbaum, R. A., E. D. Brodie, Jr. and R. M. Storm. 1983. Amphibians and reptiles of the Pacific Northwest. Univ. Press of Idaho. 332 pp.
- Nussbaum, R. A., E. D. Brodie, Jr., and R. M. Storm. 1983. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Pacific Northwest. University Press of Idaho. 332 pp.
- Ortega, Y. K., and D. E. Pearson. 2001. Occurrences of the Western Skink (Eumeces skiltonianus) in grasslands of western Montana. Northwestern Naturalist 82:125-126.
- Reichel, J. D. and D. Flath. 1995. Identification of Montana's amphibians and reptiles. Montana Outdoors 26(3):15-34.
- St. John, A. 2002. Reptiles of the Northwest. Lone Pine Publishing, Renton, Washington. 272 pp.
- Stebbins, R. C. 2003. A Field guide to western reptiles and amphibians. Third edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 533 pp.
- Tanner, W. W. 1988. EUMECES SKILTONIANUS. Cat. Am. Amph. Rep. 447:1-4.
- Werner, J. K. and J. D. Reichel. 1994. Amphibian and reptile survey of the Kootenai National Forest: 1994. Montana Natural Heritage Program. 105 pp.
- Werner, J. K., T. Plummer, and J. Weaselhead. 1998. Amphibians and reptiles of the Flathead Indian Reservation. Intermountain Journal of Science 4:33-49.
