Prairie Skink

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Kansas Herpetofaunal Atlas

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Prairie Skink

Plestiodon septentrionalis Baird, 1859

Overview

There are two distinct pattern forms that occur in Kansas, the Northern Prairie Skink (north of the Arkansas River) and the Southern Prairie Skink (Arkansas River and south [and possibly the Cross Timbers]). Current evidence suggests that they are likely two species and that they are not even each other's closest relative. More thorough systematic analyses are needed.
In general the Prairie Skinks are characterized by four limbs, an ear opening on each side of the head, flat, smooth, shiny scales on their bodies, seven light stripes alternating with six or eight dark stripes on the back and sides (northern form only) or a uniform brown dorsum with stripes restricted to the sides of the body (southern form only), and the widest dark stripe on each side of the body always bordered above and below by distinct light stripes. The head, body, limbs, and tail are olive and tan. The widest dark stripe on each side of the body extends onto the tail. The belly is uniform gray. Young have blue tails. Males develop reddish orange chins and lips during the breeding season.
The northern form has a whitish, tan, or light gray ground color with a prominent well-defined dark stripe that starts just behind the eye, and extends along the upper sides to the tip of the tail. The lateral stripe may become broken up toward the end of the tail in some specimens. On the back are four stripes that run from the back of the head to the tip of the tail. The median two of these strips are often broken up or not as well-defined.The ground color of the southern form is a darker tan to coppery colored and lighter tan along the sides. They have a prominent dark brown stripe that runs from the eye and onto the tail (stopping just past the hind legs and seldom reaching the tip of the tail), which is bordered by thinner whitish stripes above and below. Dorsal stripes (when present) are poorly defined and usually situated on each side of the mid-line.
In both forms, the belly is white, cream, or yellowish and without markings. During the breeding season, males have a reddish-orange cast on the head, especially around the lower jaws and throat. The juveniles of both forms start out much darker (even black) and with blue tails. As they grow the adult pattern gradually becomes more prominent. The post-mental scale (anterior-most non-labial scale under the jaw) is often divided, but this character is unreliable in some Kansas populations.
The tail is deciduous and will grow back, however, the regenerated portion will be off-color, shorter than the original, and typically devoid of pattern.
Southern form: "obtusirostris" (Bocourt 1879). Adults normally 124-178 mm (5-7 inches) in total length. The largest specimen from Kansas is a male (KU 221779) from Sumner County with an SLV of 74 mm and TL of 201 mm (715⁄25 inches) collected by Larry L. Miller on 16 April 1994. This is the maximum length throughout the range (Powell et al., 2016).
Northern form: "septentrionalis" (Baird 1858). Adults normally 124-178 mm (5-7 inches) in total length. The largest specimen from Kansas is a female (KU 206280) from Jackson County with snout-vent length of 87 mm and a total length of 224 mm (8¼ inches) collected by Al Kamb and Steve Kamb on 26 May 1986. This is the maximum length throughout the range (Powell et al., 2016).

Distribution

Known from the Flint Hills, Cross Timbers, northern Osage Plains, and Drift Hills. It follows the Smoky-Hill, Saline, lower Soloman, and lower Republican river drainages west out of the Flint Hills. Locally common in the Permian Prairie and Arkansas River Sand Prairie, although probably more widespread than currently known.
Burt and Hoyle (1935) commented that the Prairie Skink is found in the open prairie ledges of Kansas, where there are no trees, but where rocks and prairie grass offer much protection. They further elaborated, that colonies of the Prairie Skink are rather hard to find, but that it is often abundant where it occurs.

Reproduction

These lizards frequent open, grass-covered, rocky hillsides near streams, but occasionally have been found in forests or at forest edges. They will enter water to escape enemies. Prairie Skinks are active from April to early October. Like most skinks, they are highly secretive, spending much of the day beneath flat rocks. Clarke (1955) reported a winter retreat within the city limits of Emporia in Lyon County containing seven northern Prairie Skinks and 21 Lined Snakes. The reptiles were dug from a patch of rocky ground approximately 48 feet square during March and April.
Clarke (1955) and Fitch (1970, 1985) presented the only breeding observations on these species in Kansas. northern Prairie Skinks mate during May and June, several weeks later than the Five-lined Skink; nothing is known of courtship. Evidently, the female digs a shallow nest in loose, moist soil beneath objects such as logs, boards, or rocks. Each female deposits a clutch of five to eighteen eggs during late June. The eggs hatch in one to two months, and the young attain sexual maturity in two years.
Prairie Skinks are carnivorous, feeding on insects, snails, spiders, and smaller lizards. During August in Riley County, Collins (1982) found a single juvenile example of a Northern Prairie Skink which disgorged a grasshopper. Burt and Hoyle (1935) reported on an adult Great Plains Skink (Plestiodon obsoletus) collected by Charles E. Burt, on 14 May 1933 in Morris County, that had consumed an adult Prairie Skink (Plestiodon septentrionalis).
Predators of the Prairie Skinks include larger lizards, snakes, large birds, and small mammals (Collins, 19930.

Remarks

First reported from Kansas by Coues and Yarrow (1878), stating "... also known to occur in Nebraska and Kansas." The earliest existing specimen (United States National Museum [USNM 44969]) from Kansas was collected at Onaga (Pottawatomie County) sometime during 1891. Further genetic studies are necessary to determine the relationships within Plestiodon septentrionalis. Collins (1991) elevated P. obtusirostris from the synonymy of P. septentrionalis based on its presumed allopatry and diagnosability.
Fuerst et al. (2004) provided evidence that the southern form 'obtusirostris' should be elevated to specific status but declined to do, citing the the paucity of obtusirostris specimens in their analyses. Schmitz et al. (2004) demonstrated that P. septentrionalis is more closely related to P. fasciatus (Common Five-lined Skink) than either is to P. obtusirostris, further corroborating the elevation obtusirostris.
The following is an English translation (from French) of Bocourt's (1879) original description, pp 441-3:


9. EUMECES OBTUSIROSTRIS, N. Sp.

(PI. XXII Z), fig. i, i a, 1 b.)

Characters. Short and obtuse muzzle. Opening of the nostril located in the middle of the nasal skullcap. No naso-frenal (see pl. XXII D, fig. 1 b). Post-mental plate divided transversely. A single pair of nuchal scutes dilated across. Twenty-eight longitudinal series of scales surround the trunk. Relatively short limbs. Strong tail, fairly long and furnished below with small scutes. Two preanal scales more developed than those preceding them. On each side of the body, we see a black band, delimited above and below by a yellow line.

Description. The head is poorly enlarged behind; its length, taken from the tip of the muzzle to the posterior edge of the inter-varietal, equals nine dorsal scales and is found, as in Eumeces brevirostris, six times to six and a half times in the space between the chin and the anus. The rostral is quite high and subtriangular in shape. The superonasals each offer four sides and are in contact by their internal angle. The inter-nasofrontal, a little larger and of the same shape, is in relation to the right and to the left with the first ash grove. The frontonasals, also quadrilateral, are weakly separated from each other. The frontal is elongated and presents an acute angle in front, the slightly truncated end of which is in contact with the inter-nasofrontal. The frontoparietals are largely united by their internal side. The interparietal offers a subacute forward angle and ends posteriorly at the level of the parietals. These, longer than they are wide, are followed by a single pair of nuchal scutes, dilated across. There are four suroculars, bordered on the outside by six superciliary lamellae, the first of which is weakly inverted on the upper region, the fourth and the fifth are of small dimensions. Each side of the muzzle is furnished with five plates: a nasal, widely pierced in the middle; two ash groves, the first of which is tall and narrow, while the second, more developed lengthwise, has five sides; finally, two frenooculars, the second of which, smaller than its congener, is tilted back. The lower eyelid is provided in the middle of small quadrilateral scutes, a little higher than wide. There are eight supralabial lamellae; the fifth, more elongated than those preceding it, forms the inferior contour of the orbit; the sixth and seventh, larger and pentagonal in shape, along with the four temporals line the entire convexity of the cheek; the eighth is very small. The atrial opening is oval and lined at its anterior border with three or four small scaly lobules. The postmental is divided transversely and followed by three pairs of submandibular plates, wider than long and related to the lower labials (see pl. XXIII), fig. 1 a). The body is elongated, sub-rounded and covered with hexagonal scales; those of the spinal series are fifty-eight, from the nape to the level of the posterior border of the thighs. The limbs are short; the forelegs are no more than a third of the distance between their joint and the anus. The fingers are unequal and each terminate in a small hooked nail. The tail is strong and rather long, although reproduced at its end; nineteen scales surround the base, at a short distance from the anus, and those which occupy the lower region are small, as in Eumeces callocephalus (see pl. XXII E, fig. 2). The anterior edge of the cloaca is furnished with two scales larger than those which precede them.

Length of the type copy. 0^m, 156

Length from chin to anus. 0 066

Lacquer length. 0 090

Length of the head, to the posterior edge of the interparietal. 0 010

Length of the head, to the anterior edge of the ear 0 011

Width beyond the head at the temples. 0 008

Arm length, to the end of the middle finger. 0 013

Length of the leg, to the end of the longest finger. 0 019

Coloring. The upper parts of the body show a yellow ocher tint, a little darker on the limbs than on the back. The cephalic plates and scales of the two mid-dorsal series are speckled with gray. On each side of the body there is a fairly narrow black band, extending from the anterior part of the orbit to the first quarter of the tail. This band is perfectly delimited above and below by a yellow stripe; the upper ray, bordered in black, is separated from its congener by six longitudinal series of dorsal scales; the lower line begins below the eye, passes over the ear and limbs, and ends on the lateral side of the tail, a short distance from the anus. The tip of the muzzle, lips, throat and lower part of the legs are yellowish-white. The abdominal region and the underside of the tail are a very light bluish-gray tint.

Observations. Our new species appears to be very close to Eumeces Sumichrasti, Cope. In both, the nasofrenal scutum is missing and the trunk is surrounded by twenty-eight, longitudinal series of scales. From Mr. Cope's description of the latter species, the livery would be less vivid and the sideband would only originate at ear level. As for the other characters indicated by this author, they are peculiar to all species of this genus, and there is no mention of the post-mental plate, nor of the shape of the scales which line the lower region of the tail. Eumeces obtusirostris also closely resembles Eumeces obsoletus, Baird and Girard; it differs, however, not only by its mode of coloring, but also by the following characteristic features: relatively smaller head, compared to the length of the trunk; narrow subcaudal scales, as in Eumeces callocephalus, and not differing from those surrounding them (see pl. XXII E, fig. 2).

The typical individual of Eumeces obtusirostris is native to Texas; it was communicated to us by Professor W. Peters.

References

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Murrow, Daniel G. 2009. KHS 2009 spring field trip. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (29):42769.

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Taggart, Travis W. 2011. Kansas Herpetological Society 2011 spring field trip to be held in Chautauqua County. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (37):5-7.

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Taggart, Travis W. 2013. KHS 2013 Summer Field Trip to Coldwater Lake, Comanche County. Collinsorum 2(3/4):5.

Taggart, Travis W. 2014. Results of the 2014 KHS Spring Field Trip to Barber County. Collinsorum 3(2-4):11.

Taggart, Travis W. 2014. Recent scientific and standard English name changes effecting the Kansas herpetofauna. Collinsorum 3(2-4):9-10.

Taggart, Travis W. 2015. Spring Field Trip to the Greenhorn Limestone of Russell County. Collinsorum 4(3):2.

Pittman, Galen L., Henry S. Fitch, and W. Dean Kettle. 2016. Vertebrate animals on the Fitch Natural History Reservation (1948-2002). Kansas Biological Survey Report Number 188, Lawrence. 48 pp.

Powell, Robert, Roger Conant, and Joseph T. Collins. 2016. Peterson Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston. 494 pp.

Taggart, Travis W. 2016. Spring 2016 KHS field trip to Clark County was a soggy success. Collinsorum 5(2-3):2-3.

Taggart, Travis W. and J. Daren Riedle. 2017. A Pocket Guide to Kansas Amphibians, Turtles and Lizards. Great Plains Nature Center, Wichita, Kansas. 69 pp.

Crother, Brian I. (editor). 2017. Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America North of Mexico, with Comments Regarding Confidence in Our Understanding. Eighth edition. Herpetological Circulars (43):1-102.

Powell, Robert, Joseph T Collins, and Errol D Hooper Jr. 2019. Key to the Herpetofauna of the Continental United States and Canada. Third Edition. Univ Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. 192 pp.

Daniel, Richard E. and Brian S. Edmond. 2020. Atlas of Missouri Amphibians and Reptiles for 2019. Privately printed, Columbia, Missouri. 86 pp.

Riedle, J. Daren. 2020. Revisiting Kansas Herpetological Society field trip and Herp Count data: Distributional patterns and trend data of Kansas amphibians and reptiles. Collinsorum 9(1):7-16.

Schmidt, Curtis J. 2021. Herp Count: Russell County: KHS-2020-19. Collinsorum 9(3):14.

Taggart, Travis W., Dan Fogell, and Christopher Visser. 2021. Herp Count: Russell County: KHS-2020-25. Collinsorum 9(3):15.

Russell, Elisabeth. 2023. Habitat associations and fine-scale movements of the Red-spotted Toad (Anaxyrus punctatus) in Kansas and the efficacy of remote telemetry for monitoring small-scale movements. Thesis. Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas. 81 pp.

Last Updated: 02/27/2024 9:36:13 AM CT

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Tuesday 09 June 2026 13:17 CT