Natural History: Plestidon Laticeps (Broadhead Skink)

Natural History: Plestidon laticeps

The Broadhead Skink

This large handsome fella came to hang out with us on the patio Easter Sunday.  The photo cuts off his tail, so it doesn't really do justice as to how large and long he really was.  Just as the Corn Snake did last week, this Broadhead snake came up onto the patio from the area of the pastures.  The actual wooden patio is separated from the pool area with abundant landscaping, so I assume he was hanging out in the moist brush.  The rest of the property used to be a nursery and still acts as a landscaping business so the property is full of ponds and irrigation ditches, so it is a skink paradise!

He was very docile, as he walked right up to the table where we were sitting.  His smooth shiny scales identified him as a member of family scincidae.  He was very easy to identify both as an adult male and as a Plesidon laticeps by his olive/grey color, bright orange/red head and swollen jowels.  I unsuccessfully tried to catch him, he easily escaped and quickly blended into the brush. 

Although easy to identify the adult breeding males, the juveniles and females can be difficult to classify from other similar species.  The juveniles with their black dorsal color with 5 light lines and b lue tail are very similarly marked to the Southeastern Five-Lined Skink (Plestidon inexpectatus) and the Five-Lined Skink (Plestidon fasciatus).  You can distinguish between the species by closer examination: laticeps and fasciatus have the middle row of ventral scales under the tail enlarged, while in inexpectatus the ventral scales are all the same size. Laticeps has five labial scales and no enlarged postlabial scales while fasciatus has four labials and two enlarged postlabials. 


Juvenile Plestidon Laticeps



The Broadhead Skink is the most arboreal of all the skink species, mostly woodland dwelling skink, but can be found in any areas scattered with debris and decaying wood.