California Reptiles & Amphibians

Plestiodon"gilberti" cancellosus - Variegated Skink

(formerly Eumeces "gilberti" cancellosus)

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Range in California: Orange

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to the other subspecies

Adult, Stanislaus County

Juvenile, Stanislaus County

Adult, Stanislaus County

Intergrade, Monterey County

Adult, as found, under a rock, Stanislaus County

Adult, Stanislaus County

Note that the dark stripes on the sides of the tail on juvenile Gilbert's skinks do not extend far onto the tail as they do on the Western Skink. Compare

Habitat

Skink in Habitat, Stanislaus County

Habitat, Stanislaus County

Habitat, Alameda County

Habitat, Stanislaus County

Description

Size

2.5 - 4.5 inches long from snout to vent (6.3 - 11.4 cm). Tail can be up to nearly 2 times the body length.

Appearance

A large skink with a heavy body, small head, thick neck, small legs, and a smooth, shiny body with cycloid scales. The tongue is forked, and is frequently protruded.

Adult coloring is olive or light brown with darker edging around the scales, and sometimes the appearance of faded light and dark stripes. Striping fades with age. Older adults develop a network of dark bars or lattice markings on the back (hence the name "cancellosus"). The long tail is easily detached.

Young look very much like adult P. s. skiltonianus, with distinct light and dark stripes (which fade with age) but with a pink tail. However, the dark stripe on the sides of young skinks usually extends only to near the base of the tail.

Behavior

Found mostly under surface objects. Rarely found moving about on the ground in the open, however, they are active in the daytime and will occasionally be seen moving in grass, among rocks, or in leaf litter.

Diet

Eats a variety of small invertebrates.

Reproduction

A clutch of 3 - 9 eggs is laid in summer.

Range

This subspecies is endemic to California in the Central coast range east and south of the Bay Area.

The species P. gilberti ranges from the northern Sierra Nevada foothills from south of the Yuba River through the southern Sierras, and south through the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys, the coast ranges, and the southern interior and mountains, into Baja California. Also found in isolated regions east of the Sierras along the Nevada border and into Nevada, and in the southern tip of Nevada into Arizona. From sea level to 7,300 ft. (2.220 m).

Habitat

Prefers areas where moisture is present nearby, including grassland, chaparral, woodlands, and pine forests.

Taxonomic Notes

"Richmond and Reeder (2002, Evolution 56: 1498-1513) presented evidence that Eumeces gilberti represents three lineages that separately evolved large body size and the loss of stripes in late ontogenetic stages. Although they considered those three lineages to merit species recognition, they did not propose specific taxonomic changes in that paper. We have placed the name "gilberti" in quotation marks to indicate that it refers to a group composed of several species."
Herpetological Review 2003, 34(3), 196-203.

Brandley et al. (2005 Syst. Biol. 54:373-390) replaced Eumeces with Plestiodon.

The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles has adopted the use of Plestiodon in the sixth edition of their Scientific and Standard English Names of Amphibians and Reptiles of North America north of Mexico list.

Conservation Issues (Conservation Status)

None.

Taxonomy
Family	Scincidae	Skinks
Genus	Plestiodon (formerly Eumeces)	Toothy Skinks
Species	gilberti	Gilbert's Skink
Subspecies	cancellosus	Variegated Skink
Original Description
Eumeces gilberti - Van Denburgh, 1896 - Proc. California Acad. Sci., Ser. 2, Vol. 6, p. 350 Eumeces gilberti cancellosus - Rodgers and Fitch, 1947 - Univ. California. Publ. Zool., Vol. 48, p. 200, pl. 9 from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz
Meaning of the Scientific Name
(Eumeces - Greek - eu- good or nice and mekos length or height) Plestiodon = ? gilberti - honors Gilbert, Charles H. cancellosus - Latin - cancelli grating or lattice and -osus bearing or having - descriptive of latticed pattern of dark markings; cancelled - like postage stamps from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Alternate Names
None
Related or Similar California Lizards
P. g. gilberti - Greater Brown Skink P. g. placerensis - Northern Brown Skink P. g. rubricaudatus - Western Red-tailed Skink P. s. interparietalis - Coronado Skink P. s. skiltonianus - Skilton's Skink
More Information and References
Natureserve Explorer California Dept. of Fish and Game Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003. Behler, John L., & F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Turtles and Lizards of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009. Jones, Lawrence, Rob Lovich, editors. Lizards of the American Southwest: A Photographic Field Guide. Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2009. Smith, Hobart M. Handbook of Lizards, Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Cornell University Press, 1946.

Conservation Status
The following status listings come from the Special Animals List which is published several times each year by the California Department of Fish and Game. This animal is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
Organization	Status Listing
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA)
California Endangered Species Act (CESA)
California Department of Fish and Game
Bureau of Land Management
USDA Forest Service
Natureserve Global Conservation Status Ranks
World Conservation Union - IUCN Red List

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