Mabuyinae is a subfamily of skinks within the family Scincidae. The genera in this subfamily were previously found to belong the ''

Mabuya ''Mabuya'' is a genus of long-tailed skinks restricted to species from various Caribbean islands. They are primarily carnivorous, though many are omnivorous. The genus is viviparous, having a highly evolved placenta that resembles that of eutheri ...

'' group in the large subfamily

Lygosominae Lygosominae is the largest subfamily of skinks in the family Scincidae. The subfamily can be divided into a number of genus groups. If the rarely used taxonomic rank of infrafamily is employed, the genus groups would be designated as such, but s ...

. They have a

pantropical A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers Tropics, tropical regions of both hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera ''Acacia'' and ''Bacopa''. ''Neotropical'' is a zoogeogra ...

distribution, being found throughout the tropics of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

(but excluding most of

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

aside from '' Eutropis multifasciata'', found in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

). Although originating in and having most species in the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

, they managed to colonize the Americas in the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

; the common ancestor of the American genera is thought to have rafted across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

about 18 million years ago, with the skinks diversifying across the Americas and evolving into many new genera. 6 genera (''

Alinea Alinea may refer to: * Alinea (restaurant) in Chicago * In several languages : an indenting or a pilcrow The pilcrow, ¶, is a handwritten or typographical character used to identify a paragraph. It is also called the paragraph ma ...

Capitellum In human anatomy of the arm, the capitulum of the humerus is a smooth, rounded eminence on the lateral portion of the distal articular surface of the humerus. It articulates with the cupshaped depression on the head of the radius, and is limite ...

'', '' Copeoglossum'', ''

'', '' Marisora'', ''

Spondylurus ''Spondylurus'' is a genus of lizards in the family Scincidae. The genus ''Spondylurus'', vernacularly known as the Antillean four-lined skinks, is a neotropical skink taxon including many species. Description Species in the genus ''Spondyluru ...

'') are found in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

(with ''Alinea'', ''Capitellum'', ''Mabuya'', and ''Spondylurus'' being exclusively Caribbean genera, while ''Marisora'' and ''Copeoglossum'' have both mainland American and insular Caribbean species), and are thought to each represent independent dispersals from the American mainland within the past 10 million years. Two of these, ''Alinea'' and ''Capitellum'', are feared to be extinct as none of their species have been seen in the past few decades; in addition, numerous other Caribbean species in the genera ''Mabuya'', ''Spondylurus'', and ''Copeoglossum'' are feared to have gone extinct. Most of these extinctions are due to the

small Indian mongoose The small Indian mongoose (''Urva auropunctata'') is a mongoose species native to Iraq and northern South Asia; it has also been introduced to many regions of the world, such as several Caribbean and Pacific islands. Taxonomy ''Mangusta auropun ...

(''Urva auropunctata''), which was introduced to the islands in the 19th century.

Genera

The subfamily Mabuyinae contains 25 genera. * ''

'' (2 species) (possibly extinct) * ''

Aspronema ''Aspronema'' is a genus of skinks. Species The following 2 species, listed alphabetically by specific name, are recognized as being valid: *'' Aspronema cochabambae'' (Dunn, 1935) *'' Aspronema dorsivittatum'' (Cope, 1862) – Paraguay mabuy ...

'' (2 species) * ''

Brasiliscincus ''Brasiliscincus'' is a genus of skinks. Species are endemic to Brazil. Species were previously placed in the genus ''Mabuya''. Species The following 3 species, listed alphabetically by Specific name (zoology), specific name, are recognized as b ...

'' (3 species) * ''

'' (3 species) (possibly extinct) * ''

Chioninia __NOTOC__ ''Chioninia'' is a genus of skinks, lizards in the subfamily Lygosominae. For long, this genus was included in the "wastebin taxon" ''Mabuya''. The genus ''Chioninia'' contains the Cape Verde mabuyas. Description Species in the genus ' ...

'' (7 species) * '' Copeoglossum'' (5 species) * '' Dasia'' (10 species) * '' Eumecia'' (2 species) * ''

Eutropis ''Eutropis'' is a genus of skinks belonging to the subfamily Mabuyinae. For long, this genus was included in the "wastebin taxon" ''Mabuya''; it contains the Asian mabuyas. They often share their habitat with the related common skinks (''Spheno ...

'' (49 species) * '' Exila'' (1 species) * '' Heremites'' (3 species) * ''

Lubuya ''Lubuya'' is a genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae. The genus contains one species, ''Lubuya ivensii'', known commonly as Ivens's skink, Ivens's water skink, or the meadow skink, which is endemic to Southern Africa. Etymology The ...

'' (1 species) * ''

'' (9 species) * ''

Manciola ''Manciola'' is a genus of skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of th ...

'' (1 species) * ''

Maracaiba ''Maracaiba'' is a genus of skinks. Species The following 2 species, listed alphabetically by specific name, are recognized as being valid: *'' Maracaiba meridensis'' () *'' Maracaiba zuliae'' () ''Nota bene'': A binomial authority In ...

'' (2 species) * '' Marisora'' (13 species) * '' Notomabuya'' (1 species) * ''

Otosaurus ''Otosaurus cumingii'', commonly called Cuming's sphenomorphus or the Luzon giant forest skink, is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links ...

'' (1 species) * '' Panopa'' (2 species) * '' Psychosaura'' (2 species) * ''

'' (17 species) * '' Toenayar'' (1 species) * ''

Trachylepis ''Trachylepis'' is a skink genus in the subfamily Mabuyinae found mainly in Africa. Its members were formerly included in the "wastebin taxon" ''Mabuya'', and for some time in '' Euprepis''. As defined today, ''Trachylepis'' contains the clade ...

'' (87 species) * '' Varzea'' (2 species) * '' Vietnascincus'' (1 species)

References

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