Eumeces egregius                                               Photo Fiona Sunquist ©

Mole skinks can be easily recognized by their smooth shiny appearance – their scales look as if they fit together like tight-knit, shiny, chain mail.  They are quick, active lizards, quite often seen zipping across the ground with a snake-like winding movement.  You may also see them in sand pine scrub, or among the leaves in dry hammocks.  The individual above was caught and photographed as it was crossing the grass outside a north Florida house.

Mole skinks feed on insects.  Females lay 2-4 eggs in a nest cavity and remain with the eggs until they hatch.

The mole skinks are divided into five subspecies.

• Florida Keys mole skink E. e. egregius.  Found on the Keys

• Cedar Key mole skink, E. e. insularis. Found on islands off Cedar Key.

• Bluetailed mole skink, E. e. lividus. Found only in the Central Florida Scrub.  ENDANGERED.

• Peninsula mole skink, E. e. onocrepis. Across Peninsula Florida

• Northern mole skink, E. e. similis. Northern Florida and Panhandle.

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