Trachylepis homalocephala

Red-sided Skink
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Scincidae
Genus:	Trachylepis
Species:	T. homalocephala
Binomial name
Trachylepis homalocephala (Peters, 1854)
Synonyms
Mabuya homalocephala

The Red-sided Skink (Trachylepis homalocephala) is a small, slender species of skink in the subfamily Lygosominae. It is indigenous to Southern Africa, where it typically occurs in coastal thicket and leaf litter along the South African coast - from Cape Town, eastwards along the coast as far as Mozambique. A few tiny isolated populations also occur in moist mountainous areas further inland.

This small, elegant skink has a shiny, brightly striped body. Males change colour in the breeding season, developing bright red stripes on their flanks. The Red-sided Skink lays around 6 eggs in summer.^{[1] [2]}

It was first described in 1828 by Weigmann (who named it Scincus homolocephalus), based on specimens at the Natural History Museum in Berlin that were collected in South Africa by Ludwig Krebs.^[3]

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References