The Four-lined Skink is a medium-sized member of the Eumeces skink

Skink

Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...

s, a kind of lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

.

Taxonomy

There are several subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

:

• Long-lined Skink (E.t. tetragrammus Baird
  Spencer Fullerton Baird
  Spencer Fullerton Baird was an American ornithologist, ichthyologist and herpetologist. Starting in 1850 he was assistant-secretary and later secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C...
  
   (1859)
• Short-lined Skink (E.t. brevilineatus Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope
  Edward Drinker Cope was an American paleontologist and comparative anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist. Born to a wealthy Quaker family, Cope distinguished himself as a child prodigy interested in science; he published his first scientific paper at the age of nineteen...
  
   (1880)

Some herpetologists also consider the Mountain Skink

Eumeces callicephalus

The North American Mountain Skink is a medium-sized member of the Plestiodon skinks, a kind of lizard, living in North America.-Taxonomy:...

 (Eumeces callicephalus) a subspecies of the Eumeces tetragrammus under the name E.t. callicephalus. Others, however, prefer to treat the Mountain Skink as a distinct species because its range is geographically distinct and there are morphological differences.

Description

The two suspecies can be distinguished by their color and their stripes. The Long-lined Skink is gray to light brown in color and has light stripes from the eyes extending to beyond its forelegs, whereas the Short-lined Skink is darker in color and has stripes that end before the forelegs.

Juveniles of both subspecies have — like many Eumeces

Eumeces

The genus Eumeces skinks comprises four African to Middle-Eastern species.-Systematics:Two taxonomic revisions have been made in the 19th century regarding genus Eumeces. They both resulted in similar results; the genus is paraphyletic and must be sliced up into several different genera...

— a blue tail; this color fades with age.

Adults reach a maximum SVL (Snout-Vent-Length) of some 7.5 cm (about 3 inches), and a TL (total length) of about 18 cm (7 in).

Range and Habitat

Eumeces tetragrammus occurs in northern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and along the Mexican Gulf

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

 coast and in western and central Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

Both subspecies live in lightly wooded areas, with the Short-lined Skink having a preference for rocky areas, whereas the Long-lined Skink is also found in grasslands.

Reproduction

The female lays about 5 to 12 eggs once a year, which she broods. Males develop orange (Short-Lined Skink) to red (Long-lined Skink) coloration of the head during the breeding season.

External links

• Eumeces tetragrammus
• Info on the range (Note: the western range separated from the rest is actually the range of Eumeces callicephalus
  Eumeces callicephalus
  The North American Mountain Skink is a medium-sized member of the Plestiodon skinks, a kind of lizard, living in North America.-Taxonomy:...
  
  .)