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Plestiodon skiltonianus BAIRD & GIRARD, 1852

IUCN Red List - Plestiodon skiltonianus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesPlestiodon skiltonianus interparietalis (TANNER 1958)
Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Plestiodon skiltonianus utahensis (TANNER 1958)
Plestiodon skiltonianus brevipes COPE 1900 
Common NamesE: Coronado Island Skink [interparietalis]
E: Western Skink [skiltonianus]
E: Great Basin Skink [utahensis]
S: Lincer Occidental 
SynonymPlestiodon skiltonianum BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Eumeces skiltonianus — COPE 1875: 45
Eumeces hallowellii BOCOURT 1879: 435 (fide TAYLOR 1935)
Eumeces skiltonianus amblygrammus COPE 1900: 643
Eumeces skiltonianus skiltonianus — TAYLOR 1936: 415
Eumeces skiltonianus — STOKELY 1947
Eumeces skiltonianus — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 167
Eumeces skiltonianus — STEBBINS 1985: 148
Eumeces skiltonianus — LINER 1994
Eumeces skiltonianus — GRISMER 1996
Eumeces skiltonianus — GRIFFITH, NGO & MURPHY 2000
Plestiodon skiltonianus — SCHMITZ et al. 2004

Plestiodon skiltonianus brevipes (COPE 1900) (see comment)
Eumeces skiltonianus var. brevipes COPE 1900
Eumeces skiltonianus brevipes — TAYLOR 1936: 428

Plestiodon skiltonianus interparietalis (TANNER 1958)
Eumeces skiltonianus interparietalis TANNER 1958: 73
Plestiodon skiltonianus interparietalis — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009
Eumeces skiltonianus interparietalis — BARTS 2018

Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Plestiodon skiltonianum BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009

Plestiodon skiltonianus utahensis (TANNER 1958)
Eumeces skiltonianus utahensis TANNER 1957: 67
Plestiodon skiltonianus utahensis — COLLINS & TAGGART 2009 
DistributionCanada (S British Columbia)
USA (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Montana, Utah),
Mexico (N Baja California, Los Coronados Islands, Todos Santos Islands, Ensenada, San José, Rancho San José, Alcatraz, San Pedro Mártir Mountains, Arroyo Encantada, San Quintín)

Type locality: Oregon. Restricted to “The Dalles” by SMITH & TAYLOR 1950.

interparietalis: Coronado Island, Baja California; Type locality: “South Coronado Island, Baja Californiam Mexico”

skiltonianus: Oregon etc.

utahensis: Utah; Type locality: “souheastern edge of Cedar Valley, approximately half mile directly west of Chimney Rock, Utah County, Utah”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: USNM 3172 a (smaller of the two syntypes under 3172). Designation by Taylor (1936).
Holotype: USNM 12558 [brevipes]
Holotype: CAS 13576 [interparietalis]
Holotype: ZMB 6610 [hallowellii]
Holotype: BYU 6945 [utahensis] 
DiagnosisDefinition and Diagnosis: A medium-sized North American skink (adults to 83 mm SVL) characterized by: dorsal scales equal in size or nearly so; lateral body scales in parallel rows; four longitudinal light stripes extending from the head and usually onto the tail; dorsolateral light stripes beginning on the supralabials, passing through the upper part of the ear, and involving the second and third lateral scaler ows on neck. Stripe susually remain distinct in adults. There are normally 26 scale rows, occasionally 24 or 28. There are 7-8 supralabials, 6 infralabials, 2 postmentals and 1 postnasal. (Tanner 1988) 
CommentDistribution and synonymy after SMITH & TAYLOR 1950.

Subspecies: brevipes is probably a synonym of skiltonianus. It was diagnosed by TAYLOR 1936 as follows: “Related to skiltonianus skiltonianus, but larger and more robust, the body proportionally more elongate, the scales having a more glassy appearance. The tail is lavender, a color retained more or less in the adults.”, Rodgers and Fitch (1947) proposed that P. skiltonianus brevipes is a synonym of P. gilberti gilberti. Crother et al. 2017 do not list brevipes as valid subspecies.

Phylogenetics: Richmond and Reeder (2002) presented mitochondrial DNA evidence that P. s. skiltonianus is paraphyletic with respect to both P. s. interparietalis and P. s. utahensis as well as to the species P. lagunensis (Baja California) and to two of the three lineages of P. gilberti. 
EtymologyNamed after Dr. Avery J. Skilton, American naturalist who sent specimens to Baird and Girard. 
References
  • Baird, S.F. and Girard,C. 1852. Characteristics of some new reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 6: 68-70 - get paper here
  • Barts, M. 2018. Drei Jahre im urbanen Lebensraum von Sceloporus occidentalis longipes. Reptilia 23 (131): 36-41
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  • Bocourt, M. F. 1879. Etudes sur les reptiles, p. i-xiv, 1-1012. In Recherches Zoologiques pour servir a l'Histoire de Ia Faune de l'Amérique Centrale et du Mexique. Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale, Recherches zoologiques. Part 2, sect. 1; In A Imprimerie Impériale, Paris [3, Pt. 6], pp. 360–440. - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1887. On the affinity of the north-American lizard fauna. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) 20: 345-346 - get paper here
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  • 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
  • Cope, E.D. 1875. Check-list of North American Batrachia and Reptilia with a systematic list of the higher groups, and an essay on geographical distribution based on specimens contained in the U.S. National Museum. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 1: 1-104 - get paper here
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  • Grismer, L. L. 1996. Geographic variation, taxonomy, and distribution of Eumeces skiltonianus and E. laguensis (Squamata: Scincidae) in Baja California, México. Amphibia-Reptilia 17 (4) : 361-375. - get paper here
  • Hakim, Jonathan, Chris J. Rombough, Matthew Dagrosa and Nate King. 2016. Geographic Distribution: Plestiodon skiltonianus skiltonianus (Western Skink). Herpetological Review 47 (2): 259-260 - get paper here
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  • Kingman, R. H. 1932. A comparative study of the skull in the genus Eumeces of the family Scincidae. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 20 (15): 273-295 - get paper here
  • Knowlton, G., & Janes, M. 1934. Distributional and Food Habits Notes on Utah Lizards. Copeia, 1934(1), 10-14 - get paper here
  • Lemm, Matthias C. and Jeffrey M. Lemm. 2016. Plestiodon skiltonianus interparietalis (Coronado Skink) Avian predation. Herpetological Review 47 (2): 302-303 - get paper here
  • Lowe, C.H., Jr. 1943. Two Broods of Eumeces s. skiltonianus Copeia 1943 (1): 58. - get paper here
  • McLain, Robert Baird 1899. Critical notes on a collection of reptiles from the Western Coast of the United States. Privately published, Wheeling, WV: 1-13 (SSAR Misc. Publ. reprint)
  • Miles, Danielle Christine; Chasey L Danser, Kevin T Shoemaker 2020. Tail bifurcation in Plestiodon skiltonianus. Herpetology Notes 13: 343-345 - get paper here
  • Mosauer, Walter 1936. The reptilian fauna of sand dune areas of Vizcaino Desert and of northwestern Lower California. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (329): 1-21 - get paper here
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  • 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, Thomas L.; Fitch, Henry S. 1947. Variation in the skinks (Reptilia: Lacertilia) of the skiltonianus group. Univ. California Publ. Zool. 48 (4): 169-220
  • Rombough, C. & Elsasser, J. 2017. Plestiodon skiltonianus (Western Skink) Male combat. Herpetological Review 48 (3): 656-657. - 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
  • Stebbins,R.C. 1985. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, 2nd ed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston
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  • Stokely, Paul Scott 1947. Limblessness and correlated changes in the girdles of a comparative morphological series of lizards. American Midland Naturalist 38 (3): 725-754 - get paper here
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  • Tanner, Wilmer W. 1943. Notes on the life history of Eumeces skiltonianus skiltonianus. Great Basin Naturalist 4 (3-4): 81-88 - get paper here
  • 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
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