Scincidae

McGregor's skink Cyclodina macgregori, photographed by Tony Jewell.

Belongs within: Scleroglossa.
Contains: Lerista, Rhodona, Egernia, Tiliqua, Ctenotus, Mabuya, Sphenomorphus, Scincella, Ablepharus, Lipinia, Emoia, Cryptoblepharus, Leiolopisma, Oligosoma, Carlia, Panaspis.

The Scincidae, skinks, are the largest of the traditionally-recognised families of lizards, with more than 1400 species. Many skinks have smooth, glass-like scales (though there are notable exceptions), and many are elongate. Possible characters supporting the skinks as a group are the structure of the osteoderms and the present of a secondary palate (Rieppel 1988). Monophyly of the family has been challenged in the past, with the Feyliniinae in particular being on occasion, but the presence of scroll-like palatines may support a clade including the Feyliniinae and Lygosominae (Rieppel 1988).

<==Scincidae
    |--Feylinia [Feyliniinae] R88
    |    `--F. currori BH10
    `--Lygosominae H11
         |  i. s.: Lygosoma G60b
         |           |  i. s.: L. mulleri R13
         |           |--L. (Hemiergis) G60b
         |           |    |--L. (H.) initialis G60b
         |           |    |--L. (H.) quadridigitatum G60b [=L. (Leiolepisma) quadridigitatum G54]
         |           |    |--L. (H.) quadrilineatum G60b
         |           |    |--L. (H.) tridactylum G60b
         |           |    `--L. (H.) woodwardi G60b
         |           |--L. (Keneuxia) smaragdinum R13
         |           |--L. (Omolepida) G60b
         |           |    |--L. (O.) australe G60b
         |           |    `--L. (O.) deplanchei [incl. Hinulia tetragonurus] R13
         |           |--L. (Rhodona) G60b
         |           |--L. (Riopa) R13
         |           |    |--L. (R.) albofasciolatum R13
         |           |    `--L. (R.) garnieri [=Eumeces garnieri] R13
         |           `--L. (Siaphops) gracile [=L. gracilis; incl. Mocoa micropus] R13
         |         Egernia H11
         |         Liopholis H11
         |           |--L. inornata H11
         |           `--L. striata H11
         |         Bellatorias H11
         |         Lissolepis H11
         |         Tiliqua H11
         |         Cyclodomorphus H11
         |           |--C. celatus ADD08
         |           `--C. melanops HD04
         |         Ctenotus G74
         |--Mabuya G74
         |--+--Sphenomorphus G74
         |  `--+--Scincella G74
         |     |--Ablepharus G74
         |     `--+--Lobulia Greer 1974 G74
         |        |    |--*L. elegans (Boulenger 1897) [=Lygosoma elegans] G74
         |        |    |--L. brongersmai Zweifel 1972 G74
         |        |    |--L. morokana Parker 1936 G74
         |        |    |--L. phaeodes Vogt 1932 G74
         |        |    `--L. stanleyana Boulenger 1897 G74
         |        `--+--Lipinia G74
         |           `--Prasinohaema Greer 1974 G74
         |                |--*P. flavipes (Parker 1936) [=Lygosoma flavipes] G74
         |                |--P. parkeri Smith 1937 G74
         |                |--P. prehensicauda Loveridge 1945 G74
         |                |--P. semoni Oudemans 1894 G74
         |                `--P. virens Peters 1881 G74
         |                     |--P. v. virens G74
         |                     `--P. v. anolis G74
         `--+--+--+--Eugongylus Fitzinger 1843 G74
            |  |  |    |--E. rufescens Shaw 1802 [incl. Eumeces oppelii Duméril & Bibron 1839, *Eugongylus oppelii] G74
            |  |  |    |--E. albofasciolatus Günther 1872 G74
            |  |  |    `--E. sulaensis Kopstein 1927 G74
            |  |  |--Tachygia Mittleman 1952 [=Liosoma Fitzinger 1843 non Brandt 1834] G74
            |  |  |    `--*T. microlepis (Duméril & Bibron 1839) G74 [=Eumeces microlepis G74, Lygosoma microlepis R13]
            |  |  `--Phoboscincus Greer 1974 G74
            |  |       |--*P. bocourti (Brocchi 1876) G74 [=Eumeces bocourti G74, Lygosoma (Riopa) bocourti R13]
            |  |       `--P. garnieri Bavay 1869 G74
            |  `--+--+--Emoia G74
            |     |  `--+--Cryptoblepharus G74
            |     |     `--Morethia Gray 1845 G74
            |     |          |--M. lineoocellata (Duméril & Bibron 1839) [incl. *M. anomalus Gray 1845] G74
            |     |          |--M. adelaidensis Peters 1874 G74
            |     |          |--M. boulengeri Ogilby 1890 G74
            |     |          |--M. butleri Storr 1963 G74
            |     |          |--M. obscura Storr 1972 G74
            |     |          |--M. ruficauda HD04
            |     |          `--M. taeniopleura Peters 1874 G74
            |     `--+--Leiolopisma G74
            |        |--Proablepharus G74
            |        |    |--*P. reginae (Glauert 1960) [=Ablepharus reginae] G74
            |        |    |--P. broomensis Lönnberg & Andersson 1913 G74
            |        |    |--P. davisi Copland 1952 G74
            |        |    |--P. kinghorni Copland 1947 G74
            |        |    `--P. tenuis Broom 1896 G74
            |        |--Anotis Bavay 1869 [incl. Nannoscincus Günther 1872] G74
            |        |    |--*A. mariae Bavay 1869 G74 (see below for synonymy)
            |        |    |--A. gracilis Bavay 1869 G74
            |        |    |--A. graciloides Lönnberg & Andersson 1913 G74
            |        |    |--A. maccoyi Lucas & Frost 1894 G74
            |        |    `--A. slevini Loveridge 1941 G74
            |        |--Cyclodina Girard 1857 WH02, G74
            |        |    |--*C. aenea Girard 1857 [=Leiolopisma aeneum] G74
            |        |    |--C. alani (Robb 1970) WH02
            |        |    |--C. macgregori (Robb 1975) WH02
            |        |    |--C. northlandi Worthy 1991 WH02
            |        |    |--C. oliveri (McCann 1955) WH02
            |        |    |--C. ornata (Gray 1843) WH02
            |        |    `--C. whitakeri Hardy 1977 WH02
            |        `--Oligosoma G74
            `--+--+--Lampropholis Fitzinger 1843 [=Mocoa Gray 1845] G74
               |  |    |--*L. guichenoti (Duméril & Bibron 1839) [=Lygosoma guichenoti, *Mocoa guichenoti] G74
               |  |    |--L. challengeri Boulenger 1887 G74
               |  |    |--L. delicata De Vis 1888 G74
               |  |    `--L. mustelina O’Shaughnessy 1874 G74
               |  |--Geomyersia Greer & Parker 1968 G74
               |  |    `--*G. glabra Greer & Parker 1968 G74
               |  |--Notoscincus Fuhn 1969 G74
               |  |    |--*N. wotjulum (Glauert 1959) [=Ablepharus wotjulum] G74
               |  |    `--N. ornatus (Broom 1896) HD04, G74 [=Ablepharus ornatus G74]
               |  `--+--Carlia G74
               |     `--Menetia Gray 1845 G74
               |          |--*M. greyii Gray 1845 G74
               |          `--M. surda ADD08
               |               |--M. s. surda ADD08
               |               `--M. s. cresswelli ADD08
               `--+--Panaspis G74
                  |--Cophoscincopus Mertens 1934 [=Cophoscincus Vaillant 1884 non Peters 1867] G74
                  |    `--C. durus (Cope 1862) (see below for synonymy) G74
                  `--Afroablepharus Greer 1974 G74
                       |--*A. wahlbergi (Smith 1849) [=Cryptoblepharus wahlbergi] G74
                       |--A. duruarus Monard 1949 G74
                       |--A. megalurus Nieden 1913 G74
                       |--A. seydeli de Witte 1933 G74
                       |--A. tancredi Boulenger 1909 G74
                       `--A. wilsoni Werner 1914 G74

Scincidae incertae sedis:
  Eremiascincus richardsonii ADD08
  Trachysaurus rugosus G60a
  Macroscincus coctei Duméril & Bibron 1839 H81
  Didosaurus mauritianus (Günther 1877) H81
  Gongylomorphus bojerii H81
    |--G. b. bojerii H81
    `--G. b. borbonica Vinson 1969 H81
  Chalcides R88
    |--C. chalcides M55
    |--C. guentheri R88
    `--C. mionecton BH10
  Eumeces VH02
    |--E. egregius VH02
    |--E. kishinouyei Stejneger 1901 I92
    |--E. laticeps H11
    `--E. skiltonianus GWN71
  Lerista TT05
  Plestiodon BH10
    |--P. fasciatus [=Eumeces fasciatus] BH10
    `--P. obsoletus BH10
  Scincus scincus BH10

*Anotis mariae Bavay 1869 G74 [=Lygosoma (Siaphops) mariei R13; incl. *Nannoscincus fuscus Günther 1872 G74]

Cophoscincopus durus (Cope 1862) [=Tiliqua durus; incl. *Cophoscincus simulans Vaillant 1884, *Cophoscincopus simulans] G74

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[ADD08] Aplin, K., S. Donnellan & J. Dell. 2008. The herpetofauna of Faure Island, Shark Bay, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 75: 39-53.

[BH10] Bell, C. J., M. G. Hollenshead, J. I. Mead & S. L. Swift. 2010. Presence of a urinary bladder in Egernia depressa (Squamata: Scincidae) in Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (4): 459-462.

[G54] Glauert, L. 1954. Reptiles and frogs. In The Archipelago of the Recherche (J. H. Willis, ed.) pp. 29-35. Australian Geographical Society: Melbourne.

[G60a] Glauert, L. 1960a. Herpetological miscellanea. XII.—The family Scincidae in Western Australia. Part I – The genera Tiliqua, Trachysaurus and Egernia. Western Australian Naturalist 7 (3): 67-77.

[G60b] Glauert, L. 1960b. Herpetological miscellanea. XII.—The family Scincidae in Western Australia. Part 2 – The genus Lygosoma. Western Australian Naturalist 7 (4): 81-99.

[GWN71] Gorman, G. C., A. C. Wilson & M. Nakanishi. 1971. A biochemical approach towards the study of reptilian phylogeny: evolution of serum albumin and lactic dehydrogenase. Systematic Zoology 20 (2): 167-185.

[G74] Greer, A. E., Jr. 1974. The generic relationships of the scincid lizard genus Leiolopisma and its relatives. Australian Journal of Zoology, Supplementary Series 31: 1-67.

[H11] Hollenshead, M. G. 2011. Geometric morphometric analysis of cranial variation in the Egernia depressa (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) species complex. Records of the Western Australian Museum 26 (2): 138-153.

[H81] Honegger, R. E. 1981. List of amphibians and reptiles either known or thought to have become extinct since 1600. Biological Conservation 19: 141-158.

[HD04] How, R. A., & J. Dell. 2004. Reptile assemblage of the Abydos Plain, north-eastern Pilbara, Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (3): 85-95.

[I92] Iwahashi, J. (ed.) 1992. Reddo Deeta Animaruzu: a pictorial of Japanese fauna facing extinction. JICC: Tokyo.

[R88] Rieppel, O. 1988. The classification of the Squamata. In The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods, vol. 1. Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds (M. J. Benton, ed.) pp. 261-293. Clarendon Press: Oxford.

[R13] Roux, J. 1913. Les reptiles de la Nouvelle-Calédonie et des îles Loyalty. In Nova Caledonia: Forschungen in Neu-Caledonian und auf den Loyalty-Inseln. A. Zoologie vol. 1, Heft II (F. Sarasin & J. Roux, eds) pp. 79-160. C. W. Kreidels Verlag: Wiesbaden.

[TT05] Thompson, S. A., & G. G. Thompson. 2005. Temporal variations in reptile assemblages in the Goldfields of Western Australia. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 88 (1): 25-36.

[VH02] Vidal, N., & S. B. Hedges. 2002. Higher-level relationships of snakes inferred from four nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Comptes Rendus Biologies 325: 977-985.

[WH02] Worthy, T. H., & R. N. Holdaway. 2002. The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press: Bloomington (Indiana).