Young skinks of this species have a distinctive red tail, but this colour is lost in adults.

Distance between the end of snout and the fore-limb about 2 to 2/3 of the distance between axilla and groin; the snout is obtuse; lower eyelid has an undivided semitransparent disc; supranasals entire and are in contact with one another behind the rostral; frontal longer than the frontoparietals and interparietal together; a pair of nuchals, rarely absent; an enlarged temporal scale borders the outer margin of the parietal; ear-opening about half as large as the eye-opening, with one or two minute lobules anteriorly; 7 supralabials.

A yellowish dorsolateral streak beginning on the canthus rostralis strongly marked in the young.

Lower surfaces yellowish-white, uniform, or each scale with a black central dot; tail reddish in the young.

[1] Found in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam, India and Sri Lanka, mostly in hilly regions such as the Yelagiris, Nilgiris, Sivagiris, Shevaroy Hills, Nilambur, Madurai, Cuddapah, Salem, Belgaum, Godavari districts.