Skinks (Scincidae)

(vertebrate zoology) The skinks, a family of the reptilian suborder Sauria which have reduced limbs and snakelike bodies.

(Scincidae)

Class: Reptilia

Order: Squamata

Suborder: Sauria

Family: Scincidae

Thumbnail description
Tiny to moderately large lizards, both limbed and limbless, usually with smooth scales

Size
0.9–19.3 in (23–490 mm) in snout-vent length

Number of genera, species
126+ genera; about 1,400 species

Habitat
Versatile

Conservation status
Extinct: 3 species; Critically Endangered: 2 species; Endangered: 3 species; Vulnerable: 21 species; Lower Risk/Near Threatened: 5 species; Data Deficient: 7 species

Distribution
Cosmopolitan, except at high elevations and latitudes

Evolution and systematics

With well over 100 genera and more than 1,400 species, skinks are by far the largest family of lizards, an exceedingly diverse group. Their diversity is evident in all aspects of their biology. Terrestrial, arboreal, fossorial, and even semiaquatic skinks exist. Skinks have radiated to fill niches in all types of environments, including arid deserts, savannas, lowland rain-forests, temperate forests, and cool montane habitats. Some skinks are diminutive, but others are large. These lizards vary in morphologic characteristics from short and robust with strong, well-developed limbs to elongated and fragile with tiny or no vestigial limbs. In some arid regions (e.g., Australia), they dominate the lizard fauna; in others, such as the Sonoran and Great Basin Deserts, they are essentially absent. Skinks have dispersed widely, many having rafted across oceans to colonize other continents and even remote islands in the Pacific. Four subfamilies are recognized; one (Scincinae) is probably not monophyletic but rather a paraphyletic group:

Resources

Greer, Allen E. The Biology and Evolution of Australian Lizards. Chipping Norton, Australia: Surrey Beatty and Sons, 1989.

Hutchinson, M. N. "Family Scincidae." In Fauna of Australia. Vol. 2A, Amphibia and Reptilia, edited by C. J. Gasby, C. J. Ross, and P. L. Beesly. Canberra: Australian Biological and Environmental Survey, 1993.

Hutchinson, M. N., and S. C. Donnellan. "Phylogeny and Biogeography of the Squamata." In Fauna of Australia. Vol. 2A, Amphibia and Reptilia, edited by C. J. Gasby, C. J. Ross, and P. L. Beesly. Canberra: Australian Biological and Environmental Survey, 1993.

Pianka, E. R. Ecology and Natural History of Desert Lizards: Analyses of the Ecological Niche and Community Structure. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986.

Pianka, E. R., and L. J. Vitt. Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.

Storr, G. M., L. A. Smith, and R. E. Johnstone. Lizards of Western Australia. Vol. 1, Skinks. Perth: Western Australian Museum, 1999.

Zug, George R., Laurie J. Vitt, and Janalee P. Caldwell. Herpetology: An Introductory Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles. 2nd edition. San Diego: Academic Press, 2001.

Greer, A. E. "Distribution of Maximum Snout-Vent Length Among Species of Scincid Lizards." Herpetology 35, no. 3 (2001): 383–395.

Huey, R. B., and E. R. Pianka. "Patterns of Niche Overlap Among Broadly Sympatric Versus Narrowly Sympatric Kalahari Lizards (Scincidae: Mabuya)." Ecology 58 (1977): 119–128. ——. "Seasonal Variation in Thermoregulatory Behavior and Body Temperature of Diurnal Kalahari Lizards." Ecology 58 (1977): 1066–1075.

Huey, R. B., E. R. Pianka, M. E. Egan, and L. W. Coons. "Ecological Shifts in Sympatry: Kalahari Fossorial Lizards (Typhlosaurus)." Ecology 55 (1974): 304–316.

Pianka, E. R., and W. F. Giles. "Notes on the Biology of Two Species of Nocturnal Skinks, Egernia inornata and Egernia striata, in the Great Victoria Desert." Western Australian Naturalist 15 (1982): 44–49.

Vitt, L. J., and W. E. Cooper Jr. "The Evolution of Sexual Dimorphism in the Skink Eumeces laticeps: An Example of Sexual Selection." Canadian Journal of Zoology 63 (1985): 995–1002. ——. "Feeding Responses of Broad-Headed Skinks (Eumeces laticeps) to Velvet Ants (Dasymutilla occidentalis)." Journal of Herpetology 22 (1988): 485–488. ——. "The Relationship Between Reproduction and Lipid Cycling in Eumeces laticeps with Comments on Brooding Ecology." Herpetologica 41 (1985): 419–432.

McCoy, Mike. Reptiles of the Solomon Islands. CD-ROM. Kuranda, Australia: Zoo Graphics, 2000.

[Article by: Eric R. Pianka, PhD]