African Five-lined Skink

About the African Five-lined Skink

The African five-lined skink (Trachylepis quinquetaeniata, formerly Mabuya quinquetaeniata), or rainbow mabuya, is a north-central African species of skink lizard. T. margaritifera is another closely related skink species that is also called the "rainbow skink" (although it occurs primarily in Eastern Africa); T. margaritifera, overall, possesses more colourful, "rainbow"-like scales (as opposed to the predominantly blue, black and yellowish five-lined skink, T. quinquetaeniata).

The African five-lined skink has two subspecies: Trachylepis quinquetaeniata quinquetaeniata (Lichtenstein, 1823) Trachylepis quinquetaeniata riggenbachi (Sternfeld, 1910) Trachylepis margaritifera, formerly treated as a subspecies of T. quinquetaeniata, was elevated to full species status in 1998.

Trachylepis quinquetaeniata is a smaller- to medium-sized lizard, maturing to a length of about 20 centimetres (7.9 in). The colour of this skink is quite variable, depending on the lizard's gender, its age and the time of the year. As with most skinks, its scales are glossy, shiny, and the body is rather smooth to the touch, with a 'metallic', reflective quality. The base scale... Wikipedia →