African Striped Skink | |
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Pictured in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Family: | Scincidae |
Subfamily: | Lygosominae |
Genus: | Trachylepis |
Species: | T. striata (Peters, 1844) |
Binomial name | |
Trachylepis striata |
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Synonyms | |
Mabuya striata |
The African Striped Skink (Trachylepsis striata), commonly called the Striped Skink, is a lizard in the skink family (Scincidae). The species is widespread in southern Africa, including extreme southern Angola and Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and parts of central and eastern South Africa.
It is not a close relation to the Australian Striped Skink, Ctenotus taeniolatus.
This skink is brown or bronze coloured with two yellowish stripes that run lengthwise on either side of the spine. Both sexes grow to a length of 25 cm.[1] Their tails are often missing due to predators.