📸 PhotoPhoto: Thomas Brown · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Shanghai Elegant Skink
Plestiodon elegans (Shanghai Elegant Skink · アオスジトカゲ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A maximum length of 27 cm is slightly shorter than a 30 cm ruler (Comparison).
- 💡 Because it can also be seen in grassy areas and bushes near farmland, it is a familiar lizard to people in Taiwan (paraphrased from the National Taiwan Museum).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The Shanghai Elegant Skink is a medium-to-large skink living in southeastern China and Taiwan, characterized by the bright blue tail of juveniles.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its body is covered in smooth scales; adults have a brown or grayish-brown back with dark red stripes on the sides. Juveniles have five golden stripes running down a black back to the base of the tail, and a vivid blue tail.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It is oviparous, laying eggs. It lives in southeastern China, Taiwan, the Penghu Islands, and Diaoyudao, and is observed in diverse places from mountain forest edges to areas near cultivated fields.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2019) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/96265106/96265116
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — 6VQDX
- • iucnredlist.org — 96265116
- • wikidata.org — Q3392322
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Five-striped Blue-tailed Skink (Plestiodon elegans) 藍尾石
- • ntm.gov.tw — News Content2.aspx
- • reptile-database.reptarium.cz — species
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — David Orr · CC0 1.0 (Congeneric silhouette — Plestiodon fasciatus)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.