Plestiodon multivirgatus HALLOWELL, 1857
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Plestiodon multivirgatus
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | Plestiodon multivirgatus multivirgatus HALLOWELL 1857 Plestiodon multivirgatus epipleurotus (COPE 1880) |
| Common Names | epipleurotus: Many-lined Skink multivirgatus: Northern Many-lined Skink epipleurotus: Variable Skink |
| Synonym | Plestiodon multivirgatum HALLOWELL 1857: 215 Plestiodon leptogrammus BAIRD 1858: 256 Eumeces multivirgatus — COPE 1875: 45 Eumeces Bocourtii BOULENGER 1883: 342 (non BROCCHI) Eumeces humilis BOULENGER 1887: 377 nom. nov. (fide HEYL 1957: 120) Eumeces multivirgatus — TAYLOR 1936: 341 Eumeces multivirgatus — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 165 Eumeces humilis — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 166 Eumeces multivirgatus multivirgatus — DIXON & MEDICA 1965 Eumeces multivirgatus multivirgatus — MECHAM 1980 Eumeces multivirgatus — STEBBINS 1985: 146 Eumeces multivirgatus — TANNER 1987 Eumeces multivirgatus — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 134 Eumeces multivirgatus — GRIFFITH, NGO & MURPHY 2000 Plestiodon multivirgatus — SCHMITZ et al. 2004 Eumeces multivirgatus epipleurotus COPE 1880 Eumeces epipleurotus COPE 1880: 40 Eumeces epipleurotis COPE 1880 (fide COCHRAN 1961: 111, in error) Eumeces gaigeae TAYLOR 1935: 219 Eumeces gaigei — BAILEY 1937 Eumeces taylori SMITH 1942 (fide KLUGE 1984: 25) Eumeces gaigei [sic] — LOWE 1955 Eumeces multivirgatus gaigeae — LOWE 1955 Eumeces multivirgatus gaigei — MASLIN 1957 Eumeces multivirgatus gaigeae — SMITH & WILLIAMS 1961 Eumeces multivirgatus gaigei — DIXON & MEDICA 1965 Eumeces multivirgatus epipleurotus — MECHAM 1980 Eumeces multivirgatus epipleurotus — CROTHER 2000 Plestiodon multivirgatus epipleurotus — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 |
| Distribution | USA (SE Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, S Utah, NE Arizona, New Mexico, W Texas) epipleurotus: USA (W Texas, New Mexico); Type locality: Platte River, Fort Kearney, Buffalo County, Nebraska. Type locality: Cow Creek, Larimer County, Colorado [see comment] |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: ANSP 9371 Lectotype: USNM 9219 (formerly 5411), collected by C.S. McCarthy (fide Cochran, 1961), designation by Taylor 1935: 343. Other syntype: USNM 5263 (2), northern boundary of Texas, collected J.H. Clark [epipleurotus] Holotype: UMMZ 70516 [taylori] Syntypes: USNM 3119, 3110 [Plestiodon leptogrammus] |
| Diagnosis | DEFINITION. A moderate-sized species of Eumeces, adults average 65 mm (maximum 73 mm) snout-vent length; tail length 1.5-2.0 times body length; 23-26 scale rows around body; 53-62 dorsals; 7 (rarely 6 or 8) supralabials; postnasals usually present; 2 pairs of nuchals; usually 2 postmentals; interparietal rarely enclosed posteriorly by parietals. Dorsal ground color pale to olive brown; a light line on the third scale row bounded by narrow dark lines (sometimes reduced to dots); a pale middorsal stripe (may be lost with age); a dark line usually present on adjacent parts of first and second scale rows (may be reduced or lost in adults); lateral dark pigment present as a diffuse band or two or more dark lines, typically an upper primary and lower secondary line, the latter often edged below by a light line that follows the sixth scale row and tends to blend with the lighter venter. Lips and throat are pale, and the belly light slate. Specimens of the unstriped morph are essentially patternless, but have an indistinct dark lateral streak on head and body, darker pigment on the posterior margins of the dorsal scales, and (especially in young) an ill-defined light streak above the eye that sometimes extends over the shoulder on the third scale row. Ground color of young in both morphs is much darker than in the adult, and the tail is brilliant blue. (Mecham 1980) DEFINITION (multivirgatus): Ground color of adults pale, slightly darker than light line on third scale row, contrasting sharply with longitudinal dark lines; dark lines on first and second scale rows unreduced throughout life; juvenile pattern darker, with less well-defined lines; patternless morph rare. (Mecham 1980) DEFINITION (epipleurotus): Ground color of adult olive brown, contrasting little with dark lines but enhancing visibility of light line on third scale row; young much darker, with distinct middorsal light line that bifurcates indistinctly on head and well-developed dark lines on first and second scale rows; with increase in age middorsal light line usually disappears and dark line on first and second scale rows becomes progressively reduced by invasion of ground color from sides (reduced to zigzag marking or lost in adults); patternless morph common in parts of the range. (Mecham 1980) |
| Comment | Distribution: Reports from Mexico (Chihuahua) uncertain fide SMITH & TAYLOR 1950, but again reported by Tanner 1987, Lemos-Espinal 2015. Not listed in LINER 1994. The original type locality was given as “Posa Creek, 460 miles west of Fort Riley, Kansas”. Subspecies: MECHAM 1957 showed that neither Eumeces gaigei nor Eumeces taylori are separable as valid species from Eumeces multivirgatus. Recognition of Eumeces gaigei as a distinct species is shown to have been the result of confusion caused by ontogenetic pattern change. Eumeces taylori is demonstrated to be an allelomorphic pattern variant. Ecological distribution of the striped and unstriped (taylori) phases in New Mexico and western Texas indicates that the unstriped phase may be of superior selective value in the lower and more xeric habitats. History: This species was first described by Hallowell (1857) who based his description on a single adult specimen collected in Colorado. The specimen was characterized by a series of longitudinal a series of longitudinal light stripes on the body. A year later, Baird (1858), having overlooked Hallowell' s paper, described it again under a different name, and, in addition, described a second unlined species on the basis of two specimens. Cope (1880) on the basis of two individuals from Texas provided us with another name. Further collecting showed all of these forms to be conspecific [...]. Then in 1935 Taylor described a species E. gaigeae on the basis of two adult specimens he collected from Taos, New Mexico, well within the range of E. multivirgatus. This form is chiefly characterized by possessing only two dorso-lateral light lines. Then Smith (1942), on the basis of three specimens from Guadelupe Mountains of Texas and sourthern New Mexico, [...] described a lineless skink under the name E. taylori. The subsequent collection of eight additional specimens and a revaluation of the problem finally convinced Lowe (1955) that all three species are conspecific and merely represent 3 subspecies, or less, of E. multivirgatus. Maslin (1957) [...] found evidence that E. m. gaigeae undergoes a rather radical ontogenetic change whereas the typical subspecies E. m. multivirgatus does not. During the course of its change in color pattern, gaigeae as a juvenile possesses 3 conspicuous stripes which later become less conspicuous and the median stripe becomes nearly obsolete. [...] More recently Smith (1957) and Mecham (1957) have postulated that the lineless condition of taylori is an allelomorphic color phase of multivirgatus and, do not admit polymorphism as a valid subspecific consideration in spite of the fact that here there is evidence of a somewhat restricted geographical distribution of the allele concerned (Maslin 1959). Genetics: P. multivirgatus acquired its mitochondrial genome from P. tetragrammus after their initial divergence (Moseley et al. 2015). |
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