Trachylepis quinquetaeniata
Silhouette: David Orr · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~70% in a week >90%
The African five-lined skink (Trachylepis quinquetaeniata, formerly Mabuya quinquetaeniata), or rainbow mabuya, is a north-central African species of skink lizard. T. margaritifera is another closely related skink species that is also called the "rainbow skink" (although it occurs primarily in Eastern Africa); T. margaritifera, overall, possesses more colourful, "rainbow"-like scales (as opposed to the predominantly blue, black and yellowish five-lined skink, T. quinquetaeniata).
The African five-lined skink has two subspecies: Trachylepis quinquetaeniata quinquetaeniata (Lichtenstein, 1823) Trachylepis quinquetaeniata riggenbachi (Sternfeld, 1910) Trachylepis margaritifera, formerly treated as a subspecies of T. quinquetaeniata, was elevated to full species status in 1998.
Trachylepis quinquetaeniata is a smaller- to medium-sized lizard, maturing to a length of about 20 centimetres (7.9 in). The colour of this skink is quite variable, depending on the lizard's gender, its age and the time of the year. As with most skinks, its scales are glossy, shiny, and the body is rather smooth to the touch, with a 'metallic', reflective quality. The base scale... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 2 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luxor | 🇪🇬 Egypt | |
| 2 | Ouagadougou | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | |
| 3 | Cairo | 🇪🇬 Egypt |
No species of the same family or order lives in Cairo, so these are its closest relatives here: other reptiles.
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report an African Five-lined Skink sighting in Cairo on a given day, based on 28 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. Over three days the chance rises to about 70%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 60% of wildlife watchers report an African Five-lined Skink in Cairo on a given day, against under 5% in February, the lowest month.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Five-lined Skink sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 cities where we can rate African Five-lined Skink sightings, Cairo ranks 3rd at about 40%. The best odds are in Luxor (Egypt, about 60%) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso, about 40%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Five-lined Skink is recorded against all the reptiles logged in Cairo (28 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
