General Description: The Coal Skink is 5-7in (13-17.8cm) in length with a maximum of 2.75in (7cm) head-body length. This is a 4-lined skink, but with the light stripes extending onto the tail. The broad dark lateral stripe is 4-4.5 scales wide and there are no light lines on top of the head. The dorsolateral light stripe is on the edges of the 3rd and 4th scale rows, counting from midline of back. One postmental scale is present. The sides of the head of the male are reddish during spring breeding season, at least in some parts of the range. The Coal Skink mates in the spring or early summer, laying a clutch of 8 or 9 eggs in four to five weeks. The young of one subspecies is plain black,; the other subspecies young are patterned like the adults. Young are about 1.9in (5cm) at hatching. The Southern Coal Skink as a subspecies has posterior supralabials with light centers and dark edges, producing a spotted appearance. There are 26 or more rows of scales around the middle of the body. Sometimes the black-colored young have faint suggestions of light stripes or whitish labial spots or both; snout and lips may be reddish and the tail is blue.

General Habitat: The more humid portions of wooded hillsides with abundant leaf litter or loose stones are favorite habitats. This skink's habitat may also include areas around springs and rocky bluffs overlooking creek valleys. If pursued, they will not hesitate to take refuge in shallow water, going to the bottom and hiding under stones or debris. They live in isolated colonies in Georgia and Alabama. The southern Coal Skink intergrades with the Northern Coal Skink in parts of the Southeast. Humans are destroying or altering their habitat.