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Plestiodon gilberti (VAN DENBURGH, 1896)

IUCN Red List - Plestiodon gilberti - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesPlestiodon gilberti cancellosus (RODGERS & FITCH 1947)
Plestiodon gilberti gilberti (VAN DENBURGH 1896)
Plestiodon gilberti placerensis (RODGERS 1944)
Plestiodon gilberti rubricaudatus (TAYLOR 1936) 
Common Namesarizonensis: Arizona Skink
cancellosus: Variegated Skink
gilberti: Greater Brown Skink
placerensis: Northern Brown Skink
rubricaudatus: Western Redtail Skink
S: Lincer de Gilbert 
SynonymEumeces gilberti VAN DENBURGH 1896: 350
Eumeces gilberti — TAYLOR 1936: 438
Eumeces gilberti — STEBBINS 1985: 149
Eumeces gilberti — LINER 1994
Eumeces gilberti — GRIFFITH, NGO & MURPHY 2000
Plestiodon gilberti — SCHMITZ et al. 2004

Plestiodon gilberti cancellosus (RODGERS & FITCH 1947)
Plestiodon gilberti cancellosus — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009

Plestiodon gilberti gilberti (VAN DENBURGH 1896)
Plestiodon gilberti gilberti — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009

Plestiodon gilberti placerensis (RODGERS 1944)
Eumeces gilberti placerensis RODGERS 1944
Eumeces gilberti placerensis — SMITH 1946
Plestiodon gilberti placerensis — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009

Plestiodon gilberti rubricaudatus (TAYLOR 1936: 446)
Eumeces gilberti rubricaudatus TAYLOR 1935
Eumeces rubricaudatus — SMITH 1946
Eumeces gilberti arizonensis LOWE & SHANNON 1954
Eumeces gilberti rubricaudatus — BANTA 1962
Eumeces gilberti rubricaudatus — BRADLEY & DEACON 1966
Plestiodon gilberti rubricaudatus — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009
Plestiodon gilberti arizonensis — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009
Plestiodon gilberti rubricaudatus — CROTHER et al. 2012 
DistributionUSA (California, S Nevada, W Arizona),
Mexico (N Baja California)

arizonensis: isolated populations in Arizona,in the Bradshaw Mountains, Weaver Mountains, Santa Maria Mountains, Cerbat and Music Mountains. Type locality: USA: 5 mi SE Wickenburg, Maricopa County, Arizona.

rubricaudatus: USA (S California), Mexico (NW Baja California, North Coronado Island). Type locality: Tehachapi Mountains, California.  
Reproductionovovivparous 
TypesHolotype: CAS 4139
Holotype: Shannon collection 3218; INHS (= UIMNH) 67063; R. Abbuhl; July 8, 1953. [arizonensis]
Holotype: MVZ 24058, adult male [placerensis]
Holotype: CAS 39002 [rubricaudatus]
Holotype: MVZ 24034 (originally 3348), collected by H. S. Fitch, May 4,1937 [cancellosus] 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (1193 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: partly after RICHMOND & REEDER 2002 who also synonymized arizonensis with rubricaudatus. 
EtymologyNamed after Dr. Charles H. Gilbert (1859-1928), American herpetologist. 
References
  • Banta, B.H. 1962. Notes on the Distribution of the Western Red-Tailed Skink, Eumeces gilberti rubricaudatus Taylor, in Southern Nevada Herpetologica 18 (2): 129-130. - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Blackburn, D.G. 1993. STANDARDIZED CRITERIA FOR THE RECOGNITION OF REPRODUCTIVE MODES IN SQUAMATE REPTILES. Herpetologica 49 (1): 118-132 - get paper here
  • Boone, James L.;Sowell, Chris L. 1999. Geographic distribution. Eumeces gilberti rubricaudatus. Herpetological Review 30 (1): 52 - get paper here
  • Bradley, W. Glen and James E. Deacon 1966. Amphibian and Reptile Records for Southern Nevada. Southwestern Naturalist 11 (1): 132-134 - get paper here
  • BRANDLEY, MATTHEW C.; OTA, HIDETOSHI; HIKIDA, TSUTOMU; NIETO MONTES DE OCA, ADRIAN; FERIA-ORTIZ, MANUEL; GUO, XIANGUANG; WANG, YUEZHAO 2012. The phylogenetic systematics of blue-tailed skinks (Plestiodon) and the family Scincidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 165 (1): 163-189 - get paper here
  • BUCK, M 2020. Geographic Distribution: Plestiodon gilberti (Gilbert’s Skink). USA: California: Kern Co. Herpetological Review 51: 542.
  • Clark, Howard O., Jr. and Susan I. Hagen. 2013. Plestiodon gilberti (Gilbert's skink) predation. Herpetological Review 44 (4): 681 - get paper here
  • Collins, J.T. and T. W. Taggart 2009. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Sixth Edition. Center for North American Herpetology, 48 pp.
  • Crother, B. I. (ed.) 2012. Standard Common and Current Scientific Names for North American Amphibians, Turtles, Reptiles, and Crocodilians, Seventh Edition. Herpetological Circular 39: 1-92
  • de Queiroz, A. & K. de Queiroz 1987. Prey Handling Behavior of Eumeces gilberti with Comments on Headfirst Ingestion in Squamates Journal of Herpetology 21 (1): 57-63. - get paper here
  • Detwiler, Henry D. and James C. Rorabaugh. 2015. Plestiodon gilberti (Gilbert's skink) male combat. Herpetological Review 46 (1): 94 - get paper here
  • Goldberg, S.R. 2009. Reproductive Cycle of Gilbert's Skink, Plestiodon gilberti (Squamata: Scincidae) from California Bull. Maryland Herpetol. Soc., 45(2): 28-32. - get paper here
  • Griffith, H., A. Ngo & R. W. Murphy 2000. A cladistic evaluation of the cosmopolitan genus Eumeces Wiegmann (Reptilia, Squamata, Scincidae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 7 (1): 1-16 - get paper here
  • Hall, Derek B.; Kevin T. Shoemaker, and Paul D. Greger 2019. Western Red-tailed Skink (Plestiodon gilberti rubricaudatus) Distribution and Habitat Use in Southern Nevada, USA. Herp. Conserv. Biology 14 (2): - get paper here
  • Hansen, Robert and Jackson D. Shedd 2025. California Amphibians and Reptiles. Princeton University Press, 528 pp. - get paper here
  • Hubbs, Brian and Brian Hinds. 2015. Geographic Distribution: Plestiodon gilberti (Gilbert skink). Herpetological Review 46 (4): 570-571 - get paper here
  • Jones K B 1985. Eumeces gilberti van Denburgh. Gilbert's skink. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles ( 372: 1-3 - get paper here
  • Jones, K.B.; Abbas, D.R. & Bergstedt, T. 1981. Herpetological records from Central and Northeastern Arizona. Herpetological Review 12 (1): 16 - get paper here
  • Jones, L.L. & Lovich, R.E. 2009. Lizards of the American Southwest. A photographic field guide. Rio Nuevo Publishers, Tucson, AZ, 568 pp. [review in Reptilia 86: 84] - get paper here
  • Lowe, C.H. and Shannon, F.A. 1954. A new lizards (Genus Eumeces) from Arizona. Herpetologica 10: 185-187 - get paper here
  • Peralta-García A, Valdez-Villavicencio JH, Fucsko LA, Hollingsworth BD, Johnson JD, Mata-Silva V, Rocha A, DeSantis DL, Porras LW, and Wilson LD. 2023. The herpetofauna of the Baja California Peninsula and its adjacent islands, Mexico: composition, distribution, and conservation status. Amphibian & Reptile Conservation 17(1&2): 57–142
  • PERPIGNANI, RACHEL & JEFF A. ALVAREZ. 2023. An Observation of Tail-bifurcation in a Gilbert’s Skink, Plestiodon gilberti. Sonoran Herpetologist 36(1): 15–16. - get paper here
  • Pilliod, D., Jeffries, M., Arkle, R. and Olson, D. 2024. Climate Futures for Lizards and Snakes in Western North America May Result in New Species Management Issues. Ecol Evol, 14: e70379 - get paper here
  • Richmond & Reeder 2002. Evidence for Parallel Ecological Speciation in Scincid Lizards of the Eumeces skiltonianus Species Group (Squamata: Scincidae). Evolution 56: 1498–1513 - get paper here
  • Richmond, J.Q. 2006. Evolutionary basis of parallelism in North American scincid lizards. EVOLUTI ON & DEVELOPMENT 8 (6): 477–490 - get paper here
  • Rodgers 1944. A New Skink from the Sierra Nevada of California. Copeia 1944 (2): 101-104 - get paper here
  • Rodgers, Thomas L.; Fitch, Henry S. 1947. Variation in the skinks (Reptilia: Lacertilia) of the skiltonianus group. Univ. California Publ. Zool. 48 (4): 169-220
  • Rodríguez-Robles, Javier A., Good, David A., Wake, David B. 2003. Brief History of Herpetology in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, with a List of Type Specimens of Recent Amphibians and Reptiles. UC Publications in Zoology, 119 pp. - get paper here
  • Schmitz, Andreas; Patrick Mausfeld and Dirk Embert 2004. Molecular studies on the genus Eumeces Wiegmann, 1834: phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic implications. Hamadryad 28 (1-2): 73 – 89 - get paper here
  • SHERBROOKE, WADE C. & CASEY MOSS. 2021. PLESTIODON GILBERTI (Gilbert’s Skink). PREDATION. Herpetological Review 52 (2): 412. - get paper here
  • Smith, Hobart M. 1946. Handbook of Lizards: Lizards of the United States and of Canada. Comstock, Ithaca, NY, xxii + 557 pp.
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
  • Taylor, E. H. 1936. A taxonomic study of the cosmopolitan lizards of the genus Eumeces with an account of the distribution and relationship of its species. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 23 (14): 1-643 [1935] - get paper here
  • Taylor, E. H. 1943. Mexican lizards of the genus Eumeces, with comments on the recent literature on the genus. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 29 (5): 269-300 - get paper here
  • Van Denburgh, John 1896. A list of some reptiles from Southeastern Arizona, with a description of a new species of Cnemidophorus. Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. (2) 6: 338-349 - get paper here
  • Vitt, L. J. 1974. Geographic distribution of Eumeces gilberti arizonensis (Arizona skink). Herpetological Review 5 (3): 69-70 - get paper here
  • Vitt, Laurie J.; Justin D. Congdon, Nancy A. Dickson 1977. Adaptive Strategies and Energetics of Tail Autonomy in Lizards. Ecology 58 (2): 326-337 - get paper here
  • Werning, Heiko 2012. Die Reptilien und Amphibien des Südwestens. Draco 13 (50): 18-60 - get paper here
  • Williams, S; 2019. Plestiodon gilberti (Gilbert’s Skink) Predation. Herpetological Review 50 (1): 144 - get paper here
 
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