The African five-lined skink (''Trachylepis quinquetaeniata'', formerly ''Mabuya quinquetaeniata''), sometimes called rainbow mabuya, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...

in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Lygosominae Lygosominae is the largest subfamily of skinks in the family Scincidae. The subfamily can be divided into a number of genus groups. If the rarely used taxonomic rank of infrafamily is employed, the genus groups would be designated as such, but s ...

. '' T. margaritifera'' is also known as the rainbow skink.

Taxonomy

The species has two subspecies: * ''Trachylepis quinquetaeniata quinquetaeniata'' (Lichtenstein, 1823) * ''Trachylepis quinquetaeniata riggenbachi'' (Sternfeld, 1910) '' Trachylepis margaritifera'', formerly treated as a subspecies of ''T. quinquetaeniata'', was elevated to full species status in 1998.

Description

''Trachylepis quinquetaeniata'' is a medium-sized lizard reaching a length of about . The coloration of this species is quite variable, depending on the gender and the age. The scales are glossy, with metallic reflections. The basic colour is usually olive-brown or dark brown, sometimes with pearly whitish spots and with three light olive or dark brown stripes running from the head to the electric blue tail. These stripes may fade and become indistinct in the adults. The head shows a pointed snout and clearly visible ears holes. Just behind the ear opening, there are some black spots. Legs are dark brown, short and strong, with relatively long toes. The flanks are mainly yellowish and the underside of the body is whitish.

Distribution

The species is found in Egypt and southern

It has been found across the African continent and is also an invasive species in Florida.

Captivity

This species is found in the reptile trade. This trade is responsible for the groups of mabuya now found in Florida Krysko, K. L., S. A. Johnson, K. E. Giddens, K. H. Gielow, T. S. Lowke, W. M. Moore, E. Suarez, C. D. Thomas, A. S. Shoeslon, J. P. Burgess, C. A. Smith, and B. A. Garner. 2010. The African five-lined skink, Trachylepis quinquetaeniata (Lichtenstein 1823): a new established species in Florida. IRCF Reptiles & Amphibians 17(3):183-184 and California Pauly, G. B. and Gavit, P.D. 2019. Geographic distribution: USA, California, Los Angeles County: Trachylepis quinquetaeniata. Herpetological Review, 50(1):103-104

Habitat

These skinks are found in both rocky and grassland habitats. They tend to make their homes on trees, but also can be found using manmade structures for this purpose.

Behavior

Diet

This species' diet consists of mostly insects, particularly beetles, butterflies, and ants, with little to no variation between the diet of males and females.

References

''Trachylepis quinquetaeniata''
Reptiles Database

External links

* * Trachylepis Reptiles described in 1823 Taxa named by Hinrich Lichtenstein {{Lygosominae-stub