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Plestiodon obsoletus BAIRD & GIRARD, 1852

IUCN Red List - Plestiodon obsoletus - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaScincidae, Scincinae, Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Great Plains Skink
S: Lincer de Llanura 
SynonymPlestiodon obsoletum BAIRD & GIRARD 1852
Lamprosaurus guttulatus HALLOWELL 1852: 206
Plestiodon guttulatus HALLOWELL 1858: 215
Eumeces obsoletus — COPE 1875: 45
Eumeces guttulatus — GRANT 1927
Eumeces obsoletus — TAYLOR 1936: 305
Eumeces obsoletus — SMITH & TAYLOR 1950: 165
Eumeces obsoletus — STEBBINS 1985: 146
Eumeces obsoletus — CONANT & COLLINS 1991: 131
Eumeces obsoletus — LINER 1994
Eumeces obsoletus — GRIFFITH, NGO & MURPHY 2000
Plestiodon obsoletus — SCHMITZ et al. 2004 
DistributionUSA (E Colorado, S Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona),
Mexico (NE Sonora, N/E Chihuahua, Coahuila, N Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosí, N Tamaulipas, Durango)

Type locality: “Valley of the Rio San Pedro of the Rio Grande del Norte”, now Devils River, Texas.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: USNM 3133 
DiagnosisAdditional details, e.g. a detailed description or comparisons (826 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy after SMITH & TAYLOR 1950. 
EtymologyThe specific name, obsoletus, is a Latin word meaning "decayed or degenerate," in reference to the lack of a distinct pattern, as generally found inadults with a seemingly striped pattern (Lemos-Espinal & Dixon 2013). 
References
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  • Baird, S.F. and Girard,C. 1852. Characteristics of some new reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, part 2. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 6: 125-129 - get paper here
  • Bartlett, R. D. & Bartlett, P. 1999. A Field Guide to Texas Reptiles and Amphibians. Gulf Publishing Co., Houston, Texas, 331 pp.
  • Bezy, Robert L. and Charles J. Cole 2014. Amphibians and Reptiles of the Madrean Archipelago of Arizona and New Mexico. American Museum Novitates (3810): 1-24 - 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
  • 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
  • Burt, Charles E. 1929. The synonymy, variation, and distribution of the Sonoran skink, Eumeces obsoletus (baird and Girard). Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (201): 1-11 - get paper here
  • Burt, Charles E. 1935. Further records of the ecology and distribution of amphibians and reptiles in the middle west. American Midland Naturalist 16 (3): 311-336 - get paper here
  • Clark, Royce E. Ballinger and Donald R.; Jr. 1973. Energy Content of Lizard Eggs and the Measurement of Reproductive Effort. Journal of Herpetology 7 (2): 129-132 - get paper here
  • Conant,R. & Collins,J.T. 1991. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern/Central North America, 3rd ed. Houghton Mifflin (Boston/New York), xx + 450 p.
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  • Duran M 2021. An annotated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of North Padre Island, Texas, USA, with comparisons to adjacent barrier island and mainland herpetofauna. ZooKeys 1073: 119-175 - get paper here
  • Evans, L.T. 1959. A Motion Picture Study of Maternal Behavior of the Lizard, Eumeces obsoletus Baird and Girard Copeia 1959 (2): 103-110. - get paper here
  • Fitch, H. S. 1955. Habits and adaptations of the great plains skink (Eumeces obsoletus). Ecological Monographs 25: 59-83 - get paper here
  • Fitch, H.S. and Fitch, A.V. 1967. Preliminary Experiments on Physical Tolerances of Eggs of Lizards and Snakes. Ecology, 48: 160-165 - get paper here
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  • Goldberg, S.R. 2013. Reproduction of the Great Plains Skink, Plestiodon obsoletus (Squamata: Scincidae) from New Mexico. Sonoran Herpetologist 26 (2):33-35. - get paper here
  • Grant, C. 1927. The Blue-Tailed Skink of Kansas (Eumeces guttulatus) Copeia 164: 67-69. - 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, 1971. Ecology of a Population of the Great Plains Skink (Eumeces obsoletus). Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 49: 357-388 - get paper here
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  • Hallowell,E. 1852. On a new genus and three new species of reptiles inhabiting North America. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1852: 206-209 - get paper here
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  • Hathcock, C.D. & Stuart, J.N. 2018. Geographic Distribution: Plestiodon obsoletus (Great Plains Skink). Herpetological Review 49 (1): 74. - get paper here
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