Japanese skink
Amazing fact
In young Japanese skinks, the stripe down the middle of the back forks on top of the head.
国立環境研究所 侵入生物データベース
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
In young Japanese skinks, the stripe down the middle of the back forks on top of the head.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Japanese skink
- Scientific name
- Plestiodon japonicus
- Japanese name
- ニホントカゲ
- Group
- Amphibians and reptiles
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Scincidae
- Genus
- Plestiodon
Skinks of eastern Japan and nearby areas are now treated as a separate species, the eastern Japanese skink.
A lizard of western Japan and the islands around it. It lives in sunny places, from forests to towns.
Young skinks are black with white to yellow stripes and a bright blue tail. In adults, the tail is about the same brownish color as the body.
It is active by day, warming its body by basking in sunny spots before moving about. Females look after their eggs.
How the Japanese skink lives
They move about mainly on the ground. In Kyoto, males are especially active during the spring mating season. Females lay eggs around the rainy season. The young hatch in summer.
国立環境研究所 侵入生物データベースBasic data
- Size
- Head and body length: about 60–80 mm
- Active
- By day (diurnal)
- Range
- Central and northwestern Kinki to western Japan and surrounding islands
Where the Japanese skink has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- ニホントカゲ
- 简体中文
- 日本石龙子
- 繁體中文
- 日本石龍子
- 한국어
- 일본도마뱀
- Deutsch
- Fünfstreifiger Skink
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 国立環境研究所 侵入生物データベース — ニホントカゲChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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