Burton's Nessia

Burton's nessia, also called Gray's snake skink or the three-toed snake skink, is endemic to the wet zone of Sri Lanka and named for the British army surgeon Edward Burton. It is a slim skink of even girth with an acute snout and three tiny clawed toes on each limb. The back is brown or light reddish brown, each scale edged darker, and the belly creamy or grey. It has 24 to 26 scale rows at midbody (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives under leaf litter, boulders and decaying logs in forests, plantations and home gardens, up to 1,200 m. It hides by day and immediately wriggles into loose soil when exposed. When caught it regurgitates its food, presumably to deflect a predator. It forages at night on insects and possibly earthworms, and lays two eggs in loose soil. Nationally Least Concern (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).