American five-lined skink

The only flimsy reason I went with P. fasciatus was due to that "line" about the thickness of the middle line in my previous comment. It would indeed be "safer" to go with Plestiodon sp., drP.

Dude, like, that is a blue tailed skink.

All three of the Plestiodon species mentioned live in Mississippi: P. fasciatus: http://eol.org/pages/794693/overview P. laticeps: http://eol.org/pages/794682/overview P. inexpectatus: http://eol.org/pages/794691/overview That last one was a surprise to me (get it--inexpectatus?). Sorry. :)

S Frazier: I agree. There's just not enough info to get a species-level ID.

Formerly genus Eumeces, there are 2 Plestiodon species that look very similar, P. fasciatus and the southeastern five-lined skink, P. inexpectatus. [In the southeastern,] "The middle stripe tends to be narrower than the others, and the dark areas between stripes are black in young skinks but become brown with age. A similar lizard, the Five-lined Skink [P. fasciatus], is slightly smaller than the southeastern five-lined skink and has broader stripes. However, it is difficult to discriminate between these two species on the basis of physical appearance." <Wikipedia>

The genus Eumeces has been replaced by Plestiodon. It definitely looks like the common five-lined skink, but it could also be P. laticeps, the broad-headed skink. If I remember correctly, the only way to tell is by counting the number of scales on its face. The blue tail is seen in both species.