Scincella is a genus of lizards in the skink family, Scincidae, commonly referred to as ground skinks.[1] The exact number of species in the genus is unclear, as taxonomic reclassification is ongoing, and sources vary widely. Scincella species primarily range throughout the temperate regions of the world and are typically small, fossorial lizards, which consume a wide variety of arthropods. They are a generalized insectivore with well developed chemosensory abilities.[2]
| Scincella | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scincella lateralis, a ground skink | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Subfamily: | Sphenomorphinae |
| Genus: | Scincella Mittleman, 1950[1] |
| Synonyms | |
Description
editThe Ground Skink (Scincella lateralis) a medium sized skink, that have a shiny brown back. They are most commonly found in moist woodland areas throughout the southeastern United States.[3]
Species
editThe genus Scincella contains the following 39 recognized species:[4][5]
- Scincella apraefrontalis Nguyen et al., 2010 - Huulien ground skink
- Scincella assata (Cope, 1864) - red forest skink
- Scincella badenensis Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen, & Murphy, 2019 - Baden ground skink
- Scincella baraensis Nguyen, Nguyen, Nguyen & Murphy, 2020
- Scincella barbouri (Stejneger, 1925) - Barbour's ground skink
- Scincella boettgeri (Van Denburgh, 1912) - Boettger's ground skink
- Scincella capitanea Ouboter, 1986 - large ground skink
- Scincella caudaequinae (H.M. Smith, 1951) - Horsetail Falls ground skink
- Scincella cherriei (Cope, 1893) - brown forest skink
- Scincella darevskii Nguyen et al., 2010 - Darevsky's ground skink
- Scincella devorator (Darevsky, Orlov & Cuc, 2004)
- Scincella doriae (Boulenger, 1887) - Doria's ground skink, Doria's smooth skink
- Scincella dunan Koizumi, Ota, & Hikida, 2022
- Scincella forbesorum (Taylor, 1937)
- Scincella formosensis (Van Denburgh, 1912) - Van Denburgh's ground skink
- Scincella gemmingeri (Cope, 1864) - forest ground skink
- Scincella huanrenensis Zhao & Huang, 1982
- Scincella incerta (Stuart, 1940)
- Scincella kikaapoa García-Vázquez et al., 2010
- Scincella lateralis (Say, 1823) - little brown skink, ground skink
- Scincella macrotis (Steindachner, 1867) - large-eared ground skink
- Scincella melanosticta (Boulenger, 1887) - black ground skink, black-spotted smooth skink
- Scincella modesta (Günther, 1864) - modest ground skink
- Scincella monticola (K.P. Schmidt, 1925) - mountainous dwarf skink
- Scincella nigrofasciata Neang, Chan, & Poyarkov, 2018
- Scincella ochracea (Bourret, 1937)
- Scincella potanini (Günther, 1896)
- Scincella przewalskii (Bedriaga, 1912)
- Scincella punctatolineata (Boulenger, 1893) - Burma smooth skink
- Scincella rara (Darevsky & Orlov, 1997) - double subdigital-pads skink
- Scincella reevesii (Gray, 1838) - Reeves's smooth skink
- Scincella rufocaudata (Darevsky & Nguyen, 1983) - red-tailed ground skink
- Scincella rupicola (M.A. Smith, 1916)
- Scincella schmidti (Barbour, 1927)
- Scincella silvicola (Taylor, 1937)
- Scincella tsinlingensis (Hu & Zhao, 1966)
- Scincella vandenburghi (K.P. Schmidt, 1927) - Korean skink, Tsushima ground skink, Tsushima smooth skink)
- Scincella victoriana (Shreve, 1940)[1]
- Scincella wangyuezhaoi Jia, Gao, Huang, Ren, Jiang, & Li, 2023
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Scincella.
References
edit- ^ a b c "Scincella". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 5 December 2006.
- ^ Nicoletto, Paul F. (September 1985). "The Relative Roles of Vision and Olfaction in Prey Detection by the Ground Skink, Scincella lateralis". Journal of Herpetology. 19 (3): 411–415. doi:10.2307/1564269. ISSN 0022-1511. JSTOR 1564269.
- ^ Rheubert, J.L.; McHugh, H.H.; Collier, M.H.; Sever, D.M.; Gribbins, K.M. (July 2009). "Temporal germ cell development strategy during spermatogenesis within the testis of the Ground Skink, Scincella lateralis (Sauria: Scincidae)". Theriogenology. 72 (1): 54–61. doi:10.1016/j.theriogenology.2009.01.021. ISSN 0093-691X. PMID 19344944.
- ^ Scincella at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 11 July 2014.
- ^ Nguyen, Sang Ngoc; Nguyen, Vu Dang Hoang; Nguyen, Luan Thanh; Murphy, Robert W. (2020-10-28). "A new skink of the genus Scincella Mittleman, 1950 (Squamata: Scincidae) from southern Vietnam". Zootaxa. 4868 (3): 423–434. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4868.3.6. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 33311393. S2CID 228957224.
Further reading
edit- Mittleman MB (1950). "The Generic Status of Scincus lateralis Say, 1823". Herpetologica 6 (2): 17–24. (Scincella, new genus).
- Ouboter PE (1986). "A revision of the genus Scincella (Reptilia: Sauria: Scincidae) of Asia, with some notes on its evolution". Zoologische Verhandelingen 229: 1-66.