The lizard that often greets me at the garbage bin is a five-lined skink, Plestiodon fasciatus. The common name comes from its five stripes, one down the back and two on each side. My guy’s stripes are a washed-out yellow. Stripe color varies.
The young have bright blue tails, and this one’s tail is almost neon. I’m guessing he’s about 5 inches.
They are found in the eastern United States and Canada. The University of Georgia’s Savanah River Ecology Laboratory says they’re common throughout Georgia but are most abundant in the Piedmont, which is our neck of the woods.
They prey on spiders and insects and other invertebrates. And the woods around here must look like a buffet line to the skink.
• Note: I’ve seen some older references to the five-lined skink as Eumeces fasciatus. But amateur naturalists fear to go where taxonomists tread.
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