''Scincella'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s in the

skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, Scincidae, commonly referred to as ground skinks. The exact number of

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in the genus is unclear, as

taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...

reclassification is ongoing, and sources vary widely. ''Scincella'' species primarily range throughout the temperate regions of the world and are typically small,

fossorial A fossorial animal () is one that is adapted to digging and which lives primarily (but not solely) underground. Examples of fossorial vertebrates are Mole (animal), moles, badgers, naked mole-rats, meerkats, armadillos, wombats, and mole salamand ...

lizards, which consume a wide variety of

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s. They are a generalized insectivore with well developed chemosensory abilities.

Description

The 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 The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Species

The genus ''Scincella'' contains the following 39 recognized species: *''

Scincella apraefrontalis The Huulien ground skink (''Scincella apraefrontalis'') is a species of skink found in Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of ab ...

'' - Huulien ground skink *''

Scincella assata The red forest skink (''Scincella assata'') is a species of skink found in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west ...

'' - red forest skink *''

Scincella badenensis The Baden ground skink (''Scincella badenensis'') is a species of skink found in Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about a ...

'' - Baden ground skink *'' Scincella baraensis'' *''

Scincella barbouri ''Scincella barbouri'', also known commonly as Barbour's ground skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to China. Etymology The specific name, ''barbouri'', is in honor of American herpetologist Thomas Bar ...

'' ( Stejneger, 1925) - Barbour's ground skink *''

Scincella boettgeri ''Scincella boettgeri'', Boettger's ground skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to the Ryukyu Islands of Japan. Etymology The specific name, ''boettgeri'', is in honor of German herpetologist Oskar Boettg ...

'' ( Van Denburgh, 1912) - Boettger's ground skink *''

Scincella capitanea ''Scincella capitanea'', the large ground skink, is a species of skink endemic to Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also in ...

'' Ouboter, 1986 - large ground skink *''

Scincella caudaequinae ''Scincella caudaequinae'', commonly known as the Horsetail Falls ground skink, is a species of reptile in the family ScincidaeLiner, E. A. and G. Casas-Andreu. 2008. ''Standard Spanish, English and scientific names of the amphibians and reptile ...

'' ( H.M. Smith, 1951) - Horsetail Falls ground skink *''

Scincella cherriei ''Scincella cherriei'', commonly known as the brown forest skink and Cope's brown forest skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is native to Central America and adjacent southeastern Mexico. Three subspecies are reco ...

'' - brown forest skink *''

Scincella darevskii Darevsky’s ground skink (''Scincella darevskii'') is a species of skink found in Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about ...

'' - Darevsky's ground skink *''

Scincella devorator ''Scincella'' is a genus of lizards in the skink family, Scincidae, commonly referred to as ground skinks. The exact number of species in the genus is unclear, as taxonomic reclassification is ongoing, and sources vary widely. ''Scincella'' s ...

'' *'' Scincella doriae'' ( Boulenger, 1887) - Doria's ground skink, Doria's smooth skink *'' Scincella dunan'' Koizumi, Ota, & Hikida, 2022 *'' Scincella forbesorum'' (

Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...

, 1937) *'' Scincella formosensis'' (Van Denburgh, 1912) - Van Denburgh's ground skink *''

Scincella gemmingeri ''Scincella gemmingeri'', commonly known as the forest ground skink, Cope's forest ground skink, and ''la escíncela de bosque de Cope'' in Mexican Spanish, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Mexico. Etym ...

'' (Cope, 1864) - forest ground skink *'' Scincella huanrenensis'' Zhao & Huang, 1982 *''

Scincella incerta ''Scincella'' is a genus of lizards in the skink family, Scincidae, commonly referred to as ground skinks. The exact number of species in the genus is unclear, as taxonomic reclassification is ongoing, and sources vary widely. ''Scincella'' s ...

'' *''

Scincella kikaapoa ''Scincella kikaapoa'' is a species of skink endemic to Mexico. The specific name ''kikaapoa'' refers Kickapoo people from Coahuila Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza, is ...

'' *''

Scincella lateralis ''Scincella lateralis'', formerly Lygosoma laterale is a small species of skink found throughout much of the eastern half of the United States, and into northern Mexico. The ground skink differs from the majority of North American lizard species ...

'' ( Say, 1823) - little brown skink, ground skink *'' Scincella macrotis'' (

Steindachner Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner descri ...

, 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'' *'' Scincella ochracea'' *'' Scincella potanini'' *'' Scincella przewalskii'' ( Bedriaga, 1912) *'' Scincella punctatolineata'' (Boulenger, 1893) - Burma smooth skink *'' Scincella rara'' (Darevsky & Orlov, 1997) - double subdigital-pads skink *''

Scincella reevesii ''Scincella reevesii'' (common name: Reeves's smooth skink) is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to Asia. Etymology The specific name, ''reevesii'', is in honor of English naturalist John Reeves.Beole ...

'' (Gray, 1838) - Reeves's smooth skink *'' Scincella rufocaudata'' - red-tailed ground skink *'' Scincella rupicola'' *'' Scincella schmidti'' *''

Scincella silvicola ''Scincella silvicola'' is a species of skink that lives in the southern Sierra Madre Oriental and northern Sierra Madre de Oaxaca of Mexico, from Puebla to Oaxaca. It occurs primarily in dry, scrubby areas and forests, especially pine forests. I ...

'' (Taylor, 1937) *'' Scincella tsinlingensis'' ( Hu & Zhao, 1966) *''

Scincella vandenburghi ''Scincella vandenburghi'', also known Common name, commonly as the Korean skink, the Tsushima ground skink, and the Tsushima smooth skink, is a species of skink, a lizard in the Family (biology), family Scincidae. The species is Endemism, endemi ...

'' (K.P. Schmidt, 1927) - Korean skink, Tsushima ground skink, Tsushima smooth skink) *'' Scincella victoriana'' ( Shreve, 1940) *''

Scincella wangyuezhaoi ''Scincella wangyuezhaoi'', Wenchuan's ground skink, is a species of skink found in China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, i ...

'' Jia, Gao, Huang, Ren, Jiang, & Li, 2023 ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A

binomial authority In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Scincella''.

Description

Species

References

Further reading