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Herpetofauna - One Life's List
Broadhead Skink Washington Co., Missouri. Spring 1977 |
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 Adult Broadhead - Image courtesy of John White
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There is a certain hollow log I know of, at angles off the ground with one
end caught in the crook of another tree. It rests beside a swampy pond,
covered with duckweed, and a small number of Broadhead Skinks live inside
the log. Try to get close enough for a picture and you can spend all day
playing hide n' seek with lizards; get too close and the Broadheads dash off
in a straight line, right across the top of the duckweed! Males have the
much bigger head, which is a bright orange or red during the spring mating
season. Any time I run across an old barn or abandoned wooden building I
look for laticeps; it's a habitat of choice for them.
Adult male Five-Lined Skinks (Eumeces fasciatus) resemble male Broadheads, but are smaller in stature and their heads are a bit smaller proportionally ( laticeps also has five upper labial scales, where fasciatus has four). |
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