Overview
The Cedar Key mole skink is a small, elusive lizard that is a unique and important part of the local ecosystem. They are documented in small numbers on 10 of the islands of the Cedar Keys in Levy County, Florida. These mole skinks burrow in the sand and under beach wrack (commonly seagrass) washed up beyond the high tide and in the sandy soils under leaf litter and debris in the adjacent habitats. Its tiny legs help to propel it through the sand on the beaches and other coastal habitats of the Cedar Keys.
Coastal erosion, severe storms, and sea level rise driven by climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.
Learn more about climate change are threatening the species after development has reduced its habitat. ???
Scientific Name
Identification Numbers
Characteristics
Habitat
The Cedar Key mole skink inhabits and utilizes the beach and dry coastal hammock habitats in the Cedar Keys. They rely on dry, unconsolidated soils for movement, cover, and nesting. They need leaves, wrack, and other ground cover for shelter, temperature regulation, and food (insects found in ground cover).
The land near a shore.
Food
The Cedar Key mole skink preys on a variety of small insects including roaches, spiders, crickets, and other insects that live within and under the decaying wrack, leaf litter and debris.
Behavior
Mole skinks are adapted to digging, burrowing, and living underground. They can run but more often utilize “swimming” as a method to move in sandy substrate. Cedar Key mole skinks rely on ground cover over loose substrate as cover and the insects existing in this ground cover as a food source.
The Cedar Key mole skink is a cold-blooded animal and therefore highly dependent on the air and soil temperature to maintain body core temperature (thermoregulate.) They need ground cover to moderate soil temperatures and provide shade to assist in the skinks’ thermoregulation in the hot climate.
Life Cycle
The Cedar Key mole skink has three identified life stages: eggs, immature (juvenile), and adult. The immature stage is approximately one year from hatching to reproductively mature adult. It is unknown if the life stages of the Cedar Key mole skink are limited to a specific habitat.
Scientists believe mother skinks stay with their eggs in the nest chamber, licking and turning their eggs until they hatch.
Physical Characteristics
The Cedar Key mole skink is a shiny brown lizard with small, well-developed legs. They have a pair of light stripes running the length of their body and a light pink colored tail.
Adult Cedar Key mole skinks reach a total length of approximately 6 inches with the tail accounting for two-thirds of the length.
Geography
The Cedar Key mole skink has been found in small numbers on ten of the islands of the Cedar Keys in Levy County, Florida. This coastal complex of islands, tidal creeks, bays, and salt marsh salt marsh
Salt marshes are found in tidal areas near the coast, where freshwater mixes with saltwater.
Learn more about salt marsh is located along ten miles of Florida’s central Gulf of Mexico coast in Levy County, 50 miles southwest of Gainesville. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico, channels, bays, tidal creeks, salt marshes, sand flats, mud flats and oyster reefs, separate most of these sandy-soil islands from the mainland and each other.
Timeline
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