Bedriagai’s skink
Bedriagai’s skink (also erroneously “Bedriaga”) is endemic to the southern two thirds of the Iberian Peninsula, being absent above a line roughly between Castellon and Southern Galicia. It is relatively common on the coast where it is associated with pinewoods and scarcer inland, and is found from sea level up to 1700m. With a maximum length of 14cm it is smallish as skinks go. It uses its snout to burrow in the ground in search for invertebrates.
The photos of this Bedriaga’s skink kindly sent to me by Clive of Natural Images. Clive runs guided walking tours in the Sierra de Grazalema . Clive notes:
“It entered the house by unknown means. Possibly the cat brought it in and left it to play with later but there were no marks on it so that is unlikely. It was raining hard outside so maybe it got in under the door for some shelter and managed to get across the big living room to the mat by the fire without being spotted by the dog or the cat, again very unlikely. My favorite theory is that it was in a split in some firewood hibernating and dropped out before the log went on the fire. Either way luck was on its side that day. It now lives in a new dry stone wall we have built up on our vegetable garden but haven’t seen it since I put it there. Hopefully we will see some more this summer.”
Skinks are the largest group of reptiles, and represent a halfway home on the long haul of evolution from leggy lizards to legless snakes.
Translation: Bedriaga’s skink
- es eslizón ibérico
- fr seps de Bedriaga
- Cat lludrió ibèric
- Ger spanischer Walsenskink
- la Chalcides bedriagai
More here: Eslizón ibérico – Chalcides bedriagai
The Iberianature guide to Spain
