The American five-lined skink (Plestiodon fasciatus) is a common lizard species found throughout eastern North America. Known for their distinctive stripes and bright blue tails as juveniles, these skinks are a familiar sight in many gardens and woodlands. This article delves into the dietary habits of the five-lined skink, exploring what they eat in their natural habitat and how their diet can be supplemented in captivity.
General Information about the Five-Lined Skink
The American five-lined skink is a small to medium-sized lizard, reaching a total length of about 12.5 to 21.5 centimeters (4.9 to 8.5 inches), including the tail. As their name implies, five-lined skinks have five light lines that run down their backs and tails. Young skinks are dark brown to black with five distinctive white to yellowish stripes running along the body and a bright blue tail. The blue color fades to light blue with age, and the stripes also may slowly disappear. While female skinks usually retain this pattern throughout life, adult males often become nearly uniform brown or olive in coloration with orange-red coloration on their jaws during the spring breeding season. This species is endemic to North America. Other common names for P. fasciatus include blue-tailed skink (for juveniles) and red-headed skink (for adults). It is technically appropriate to call it the American five-lined skink to distinguish it from the African skink Trachylepis quinquetaeniata (otherwise known as five-lined mabuya) or the eastern red-headed skink to distinguish it from its western relative Plestiodon skiltonianus (otherwise known as the western skink).
Five-lined skinks can be distinguished from the southeastern five-lined skinks by a row of enlarged scales under the tail and from broadhead skinks by smaller size and four labial (lip) scales instead of five.
They can be found in almost any habitat but are most abundant in areas with rotting stumps and logs, in swamps, and along river margins. The five-lined skink occurs throughout North Carolina except for the Outer Banks. They are also found in a great variety of habitats but are most common in dry, sandy environments. P. fasciatus tends to be most abundant on the coastal plain in the southeastern United States and along the Gulf Coast. It has now been seen in increasing numbers in the northern Chesapeake Bay Region of Maryland particularly along the shores of the Elk River, and northern Virginia. The American five-lined skink is a ground-dwelling animal. It prefers moist, hardwood areas with a permanent water source such as rivers or streams, as well as sites to bask in the sun. It can also be found in broken, rocky areas at the northern edge of its habitat. Within the northern edge of its habitat, it was found that they prefer areas with longer than average rock cover in areas with few trees.
Carnivorous Diet of the Five-Lined Skink
Plestiodon fasciatus is completely carnivorous, feeding mostly on arthropods. The common five-lined skink's diet consists primarily of a variety of arthropods, particularly spiders, crickets, beetles and other insects. Their diet includes termites, grasshoppers, caterpillars, beetles, and beetle larvae. However, they have been reported to also eat newborn mice, frogs, and other lizards.
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Five-lined skinks are active during the day. Wild skinks will make short forays into heavily used core areas to find food. They are quick to escape and take refuge in crevices. Five-lined skinks are fairly quick and will run away toward a fallen log or rock if threatened.
Dietary Adaptations and Hunting Behavior
Five-lined skinks are active foragers, searching for prey in a variety of habitats. Their quick reflexes and agility allow them to capture insects and other small invertebrates. They are often seen on the ground, and frequent hollow trees. Escape behavior involves hiding under surface objects and in crevices.
Nutritional Needs for Captive Skinks
Those who own a pet skink are advised to supplement the skink's diet with fruits and vegetables. In addition to eating insects, skinks enjoy a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Conservation Status
The Great Lakes - St. Lawrence population of P. fasciatus is listed as "special concern" in Ontario and Canada by COSSARO and COSEWIC. It is illegal to remove any of the three species of skinks found in Canada from their habitats. Skinks are at the extreme edge of their habitat range in Canada, which makes it an area of special interest to ecologists, as extreme conditions place unique evolutionary pressures upon species. The American five-lined skink has split into two phylogenetically-distinct populations in this edge habitat; the Carolinian population, also present in the United States, ends around Point Pelee National Park in southern Ontario. The Carolinian population is listed as "endangered" in Ontario and Canada by COSSARO and COSEWIC.
Additional Biological Details
Research suggests that the species are sexually dimorphic in terms of size. Adult males in the Virginia sample had larger (wider) heads (7.8-14.9 mm, ave. ± 1.7, n = 56) than adult females (7.3-11.2 mm, ave. = 9.5 ± 0.7, n = 79). There were no sexual differences in number of scales around midbody (males 27-33, ave. ave. = 15.4 ± 1.6, n = 23; females 12-17, ave. = 15.2 ± 1.4, n = 24). Head turns orange to red on males.
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The species starts its activity in March or April, depending on the weather, and extends through October. They can be found throughout the winter on exceptionally warm days. Juveniles emerge from hibernation earlier and enter it later than adults.
Reproduction
Five-lined skinks generally mate in spring and lay 6 to 10 eggs in nests which are usually in rotten stumps or logs, sawdust piles, or beneath sheltering objects. The mating season begins in May. The female Plestiodon will lay its eggs in June, and four to six weeks after the incubation, the young hatch. Females lay fifteen to eighteen eggs in a small cavity cleared beneath a rotting log, stump, board, loose bark, a rock, or an abandoned rodent burrow. Females prefer secluded nest sites in large, moderately decayed logs. Soil moisture is also an important factor in nest selection. Females often place nests in regions where soil moisture is higher than in adjacent areas. Vertical position of the nest also varies with moisture, with nests located deeper in a soil cavity at dry sites. The parchment-like eggs of the American five-lined skink, similar to many other reptiles, are thin and easily punctured. Freshly laid eggs range from spherical to oval in shape averaging 1.3 cm (0.51 in) in length. Absorption of water from the soil leads to increased egg size. Egg coloration also changes over time, from white to mottled tan, after contact with the nest burrow. The incubation period ranges from 24 to 55 days, and varies due to fluctuations in temperature. Females typically brood their eggs during this time, exhibiting defensive behavior against smaller predators. Parental care ends a day or two after hatching when hatchlings leave the nest.
Behavior
Adult male American five-lined skinks exhibit complex courtship and aggressive behavior. Although males tolerate juveniles and females in their territories, they actively defend these areas against other males. It has been proposed that one of the functions of their blue tails is intraspecific communication with the purpose of preventing attacks by more aggressive males because the blue tail signifies that they are juveniles or females. Juvenile five-lined skinks show aggressive behavior to other juveniles but only when they are within one body length of each other. Vomeronasal analysis of chemical cues and recognition of sex-specific visual stimuli, including tail and body coloration, aid in the identification of sex. Evidence suggests that males may rely more on contact pheromones than volatile airborne molecules in the identification of conspecifics. Courting males grasp the necks of receptive females in their jaws after approaching them from the side. Using the tail to align cloacal openings, males initiate copulation by inserting one of the two hemipenes into the female's cloaca.
Female American five-lined skinks demonstrate high levels of parental care which reduces egg mortality. Females exhibit several brooding positions of variant contact levels with the body placed beside, over, through, or in a coil around the eggs. Brooding position varies according to soil moisture. Maternal body contact increases at lower moisture levels potentially reducing the transpirational loss of the eggs. In communal nests, females may alternate foraging and guarding of the nests, leaving eggs protected at all times. Females may also urinate in the nests and turn eggs to maintain humidity. In addition, females transfer heat from basking through body contact.
American five-lined skinks also exhibit antipredation behavior. In evasion of various predators including snakes, crows, hawks, shrews, moles, opossums, skunks, raccoons, and domestic cats, skinks may disconnect their entire tail or a small segment. It is thought that the bright blue color attracts predators to the expendable tail. Skinks run to shelter to escape their death as the disconnected tail continues to twitch.
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