Everyone can see the coordinates unless the taxon is threatened.
Obscured
Public coordinates shown as a random point within 10KM of the true coordinates. True coordinates are only visible to you and the curators of projects to which you add the observation.
private
Coordinates completely hidden from public maps, true coordinates only visible to you and the curators of projects to which you add the observation. Observations with private coordinates will still be used to verify place check lists.
Description
Found under rock in Pepperwood Reserve.It was pretty cold in the morning so the skink didn't move much. It had a brilliant blue tail and tan/yellow stripes.
I'm told it was a juvenile. I have no idea what spp it is.
Luckily, we only have 2 skinks! The Western Skink and Gilbert's Skink, and the most common one is the Western Skink (Plestiodon skiltonianus), which looks pretty much like what you describe, especially when young. The only problem is that the juveniles of Gilbert's Skink (P. gilberti) look pretty similar. The way to distinguish them is that the lateral stripes on the juvenile Gilbert's DON'T extend all they way to the tail. There's an excellent photo of this at http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/e.g.gilberti.html.
Also, the name I learned (only a few years ago) was Eumeces skiltonianus, but I guess it's been changed.
You are probably right. I got a pretty good look at it. Funny story! I was passing the skink to one of my classmates to look at and it managed to get loose and crawl up my sleeve and down my shirt. Luckily, it went up my shirt and not someone else's. I'm pretty sure they would have done an "O MAI gosh itz icKKY!!!" dance. My classmates were so scared of it... Anyways, the skink that got loose is fine. I think it enjoyed the warmth of my sleeve.
My friend Natalie caught an adult Western Skink in the vicinity which leads me to believe that the juvenile was probably a Western Skink.
The data quality assessment is a summary of an observation's accuracy. All
observations start as "casual" grade, and achieve
"research" grade when
the iNat community agrees with the observer's ID, where an "agreeing"
identification is one that matches exactly or is of a child taxon of the
observer's ID. For example, if Scott says it's a mammal and Ken-ichi
says it's Homo sapiens, then Ken-ichi agrees with Scott.
the observation has a date
the observation is georeferenced (i.e. has lat/lon coordinates)
the observation has a photo
Observations will revert to "casual" grade if the above conditions aren't met or
the community agrees the location doesn't looks accurate (e.g. monkeys in the middle of the ocean, hippos in office buildings, etc.)
the community agrees the organism isn't wild/naturalized (e.g. captive or cultivated by humans or intelligent space aliens)
Comments & Identifications
Luckily, we only have 2 skinks! The Western Skink and Gilbert's Skink, and the most common one is the Western Skink (Plestiodon skiltonianus), which looks pretty much like what you describe, especially when young. The only problem is that the juveniles of Gilbert's Skink (P. gilberti) look pretty similar. The way to distinguish them is that the lateral stripes on the juvenile Gilbert's DON'T extend all they way to the tail. There's an excellent photo of this at http://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/e.g.gilberti.html.
Also, the name I learned (only a few years ago) was Eumeces skiltonianus, but I guess it's been changed.
You are probably right. I got a pretty good look at it. Funny story! I was passing the skink to one of my classmates to look at and it managed to get loose and crawl up my sleeve and down my shirt. Luckily, it went up my shirt and not someone else's. I'm pretty sure they would have done an "O MAI gosh itz icKKY!!!" dance. My classmates were so scared of it... Anyways, the skink that got loose is fine. I think it enjoyed the warmth of my sleeve.
My friend Natalie caught an adult Western Skink in the vicinity which leads me to believe that the juvenile was probably a Western Skink.
Add a comment
Add an identification