Fire Skink
The fire skink (Mochlus fernandi) is a glossy, brown skink of West and Central Africa with brilliant red-orange flanks, a pattern that lights up like a flame. It lives in leaf litter in savannas and forest edges.
The fire skink (Mochlus fernandi) is a glossy, brown skink of West and Central Africa with brilliant red-orange flanks, a pattern that lights up like a flame. It lives in leaf litter in savannas and forest edges.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Fire Skink in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Reptilia lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
Flames on the Sides
The red patches and white-spotted black sides probably serve as a signal to rivals and predators. The skink is calm and often seen foraging among the leaves for insects and snails.
A Burrower
Fire skinks dig into loose soil and stay in burrows. They are social and live in small groups, unlike most skinks. See Blue-tongued Skink.
Pet Trade
The skink is exported in numbers as a pet from West Africa.
Fire Skink at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Mochlus fernandi |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Reptilia |
| Order | Squamata |
| Family | Scincidae |
| Field Guide group | Reptilia (Reptiles) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Burrowing West and Central African forest-floor lizard with glossy, overlapping cycloid scales underpinned by bony osteoderms, a golden-brown dorsum, and vivid crimson-and-black barred flanks. |
| IUCN Red List status | Least Concern (LC), assessed 2021 |
| Family | Scincidae |
| Range | West and Central Africa |