---
title: "African Five-lined Skink"
description: "Trachylepis quinquetaeniata — Reptielen. The African five-lined skink (Trachylepis quinquetaeniata, formerly Mabuya quinquetaeniata), or rainbow mabuya, is a north-central African species of skink lizard."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/nl/animal/african-five-lined-skink
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# African Five-lined Skink

> Trachylepis quinquetaeniata — Reptielen. The African five-lined skink (Trachylepis quinquetaeniata, formerly Mabuya quinquetaeniata), or rainbow mabuya, is a north-central African species of skink lizard.

- Scientific name: *Trachylepis quinquetaeniata*
- Category: `reptiles` (Reptielen)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 1341
- Wikidata: [Q1766617](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1766617)
- iNaturalist taxon: [37421](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/37421)

## Names

- en: African Five-lined Skink
- de: Afrikanischer Blauschwanzskink
- fr: Scinque pentaligne

## Countries with the most observations

EG (452), KE (200), GH (128), NG (72), UG (63), ET (40), BF (34), BJ (27), SS (23), CD (22), SD (21), TD (21)

## Summary

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).

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachylepis_quinquetaeniata

## Photo

![African Five-lined Skink](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/african-five-lined-skink/medium.jpg)

Photo: lallen · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/189912541

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/african-five-lined-skink?lang=nl` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).