American Five-lined Skink

The American five-lined skink, Plestiodon fasciatus, is a small lizard of the family Scincidae and one of the most common lizards in the eastern United States, ranging north into southern Ontario and Michigan and west through Minnesota, Missouri, and eastern Kansas to Texas. It measures about 12.5 to 21.5 centimeters in total length; juveniles are dark with five distinctive white to yellowish stripes and a bright blue tail, a pattern that fades as adults become uniformly brownish and the tail loses its blue. It is a ground-dwelling animal preferring moist, hardwood areas near a permanent water source, most abundant on the coastal plain of the southeastern United States and along the Gulf Coast.