Share your observations of plants or non-game animals with the Natural Heritage Inventory
Help care for rare plants and animals by ordering an Endangered Resources plate.
Photo by Rori Paloski, WDNR
Prairie Skink (Plestiodon septentrionalis), a Special Concern species in Wisconsin, prefers sandy soils in bracken grasslands or pine barrens. They are also found on open sandy banks along rivers and streams. Their range in Wisconsin is restricted to a small number of counties in the northwestern portion of the state, but they are more commonly found west of Wisconsin in the Great Plains. They are active from May through September, breeding takes place soon after emerging from their communal overwintering sites. During the breeding season, males exhibit bright orange chins, lips, and throats. Prairie skinks maintain burrow systems enabling them to escape from predators that include hawks, owls, ground squirrels, raccoons, and snakes. In the fall, with the onset of cold temperatures, prairie skinks will lengthen their burrows and overwinter there. A prairie skink's diet is made up of numerous terrestrial insects such as spiders, crickets, beetles, and grasshoppers.
The table below provides information about the protected status - both state and federal - and the rank (S and G Ranks) for Prairie Skink (Plestiodon septentrionalis). See the Working List Key for more information about abbreviations. Counties shaded blue have documented occurrences for this species in the Wisconsin Natural Heritage Inventory database. The map is provided as a general reference of where occurrences of this species meet NHI data standards and is not meant as a comprehensive map of all observations.
Note: Species recently added to the NHI Working List may temporarily have blank occurrence maps.
| Summary Information | |
|---|---|
| State Status | SC/H |
| Federal Status in Wisconsin | none |
| State Rank | S3 |
| Global Rank | G5 |
| Tracked by NHI | Y |
| WWAP | SGCN |
A guidance document is not available at this time. Use the information from the other tabs and contact local biologists, as needed, to develop management and avoidance strategies.
Click to view a larger version. Please considering donating a photo to the Natural Heritage Conservation Program for educational uses. Photo use
Prairie skink head close-up
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
Male prairie skink during breeding season
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
Prairie skink
Photo © A.B. Sheldon.
Prairie skink
Photo by Rori Paloski, WDNR.
Juvenile prairie skink
Photo by Rori Paloski, WDNR.
The table below lists the natural communities that are associated with Prairie Skink. Only natural communities for which Prairie Skink is "high" (score=3) or "moderate" (score=2) associated are shown. See the key to association scores for complete definitions. Please see the Wildlife Action Plan to learn how this information was developed.
| Natural community | Score |
|---|---|
| Dry Prairie | 3 |
| Dry-mesic Prairie | 3 |
| Eastern Red-cedar Thicket | 3 |
| Oak Barrens | 3 |
| Oak Opening | 3 |
| Pine Barrens | 3 |
| Sand Barrens | 3 |
| Sand Prairie | 3 |
| Surrogate Grasslands | 3 |
| Transportation-Utility Corridor | 3 |
| Bedrock Glade | 2 |
| Bracken Grassland | 2 |
| Northern Dry Forest--young seral | 2 |
| Northern Dry Mesic--young seral | 2 |
| Oak Woodland | 2 |
The table below lists the ecological landscape association scores for Prairie Skink. The scores correspond to the map (3=High, 2=Moderate, 1=Low, 0=None). For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.
| Ecological landscape | score |
|---|---|
| Northwest Sands | 3 |
| Forest Transition | 2 |
| Western Coulee and Ridges | 2 |
| Western Prairie | 2 |
| Central Sand Plains | 1 |
Ecological priorities are the combinations of natural communities and ecological landscapes that provide Wisconsin's best opportunities to conserve important habitats for a given Species of Greatest Conservation Need. The 10 highest scoring combinations are considered ecological priorities and are listed below. More than 10 combinations are listed if multiple combinations tied for 10th place. For more information, please see the Wildlife Action Plan.
* Ecological priority score is a relative measure that is not meant for comparison between species. This score does not consider socio-economical factors that may dictate protection and/or management priorities differently than those determined solely by ecological analysis. Further, a low ecological priority score does not imply that management or preservation should not occur on a site if there are important reasons for doing so locally.
Conservation actions respond to issues or threats, which adversely affect species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) or their habitats. Besides actions such as restoring wetlands or planting resilient tree species in northern communities, research, surveys and monitoring are also among conservation actions described in the WWAP because lack of information can threaten our ability to successfully preserve and care for natural resources.