| Broad-headed Skink | |
|---|---|
| Broad-headed Skink | |
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Genus: | Eumeces |
| Species: | E. laticeps |
| Binomial name | |
| Eumeces laticeps Schneider, 1801 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Plestiodon laticeps |
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The Broad-headed Skink (Eumeces laticeps) is — together with the Great Plains Skink — the largest of the Eumeces-skinks, growing to a total length of 15 centimetres (5.9 in) to nearly 43 centimetres (17 in).
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The broadhead skink gets its name from the wide jaws, giving the head a triangular appearance. Adult males are brown or olive brown in color and have bright orange heads during the mating season in spring. Females have five light stripes running down the back and the tail, similar to the Five-lined Skink. Juveniles are dark brown or black and also striped and have blue tails.
These skinks are the most arboreal of the North American Eumeces. Although they do occur in urban areas, their preferred habitat are humid forest areas with abundant leaf litter, especially oak forests. They forage on the ground, but also easily and often climb trees for shelter or sleep or searching for food.
Females typically are larger than males. The larger the female, the more eggs she will lay. Males thus often try to mate with the largest female they can find, and they sometimes in engage severe fights with other males over access to a female. The female lays between 8 and 22 eggs, which she guards and protects until they hatch in June or July. The hatchlings have a total length of 6 centimetres (2.4 in) to 8 centimetres (3.1 in). Adult broad-headed skinks can grow to about 13 inches in length.
Broad-headed skinks are widely distributed in the south-eastern states of the U.S., from the East Coast to Kansas and eastern Texas and from Ohio to the Gulf Coast.
These skinks (along with the similar Eumeces fasciatus) are sometimes wrongly thought to be venomous.[1] Broad-headed skinks are non venomous.