It has a long, stocky body with keeled, protruding, wrinkled scales that give it the appearance of three pinecones glued together. It has a triangular head, and a bright blue tongue. When captured, it inflates its lungs and expels air in hisses and keeps its mouth open, exposing its bright blue tongue. The Shingleback skink is found in southern and western Australia, in desert grassland areas or sandy dunes. Skinks are shy and secretive and seldom stray far from their shelter.
Most species adapt well to captivity.
They find shelter at night in hollow logs and ground debris. In nature, skinks are omnivorous feeders eating many types of foods. They are diurnal ground-dwelling lizards, which feed on a variety of insects, snails, carrion and wildflowers, native fruits and berries. This skink is ovoviviparous. Offspring develop inside the mother in a placenta rather than inside hard shells, thus producing live young.