''Scincella'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s in the

skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

, Scincidae, commonly referred to as ground skinks. The exact number of

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

in the genus is unclear, as taxonomic reclassification is ongoing, and sources vary widely. ''Scincella'' species primarily range throughout the temperate regions of the world and are typically small,

fossorial A fossorial animal () is one that is adapted to digging and which lives primarily (but not solely) underground. Examples of fossorial vertebrates are Mole (animal), moles, badgers, naked mole-rats, meerkats, armadillos, wombats, and mole salamand ...

lizards, which consume a wide variety of

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s. They are a generalized insectivore with well developed chemosensory abilities.

Description

The Ground Skink (''Scincella lateralis)'' a medium sized skink, that have a shiny brown back. They are most commonly found in moist woodland areas throughout the southeastern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Species

The genus ''Scincella'' contains the following 39 recognized species: *'' Scincella apraefrontalis'' - Huulien ground skink *'' Scincella assata'' - red forest skink *'' Scincella badenensis'' - Baden ground skink *'' Scincella baraensis'' *'' Scincella barbouri'' ( Stejneger, 1925) - Barbour's ground skink *'' Scincella boettgeri'' ( Van Denburgh, 1912) - Boettger's ground skink *'' Scincella capitanea'' Ouboter, 1986 - large ground skink *'' Scincella caudaequinae'' ( H.M. Smith, 1951) - Horsetail Falls ground skink *'' Scincella cherriei'' - brown forest skink *'' Scincella darevskii'' - Darevsky's ground skink *'' Scincella devorator'' *'' Scincella doriae'' ( Boulenger, 1887) - Doria's ground skink, Doria's smooth skink *'' Scincella dunan'' Koizumi, Ota, & Hikida, 2022 *'' Scincella forbesorum'' ( Taylor, 1937) *'' Scincella formosensis'' (Van Denburgh, 1912) - Van Denburgh's ground skink *'' Scincella gemmingeri'' (Cope, 1864) - forest ground skink *'' Scincella huanrenensis'' Zhao & Huang, 1982 *'' Scincella incerta'' *'' Scincella kikaapoa'' *''

Scincella lateralis ''Scincella lateralis'', formerly Lygosoma laterale is a small species of skink found throughout much of the eastern half of the United States, and into northern Mexico. The ground skink differs from the majority of North American lizard species ...

'' ( Say, 1823) - little brown skink, ground skink *'' Scincella macrotis'' ( Steindachner, 1867) - large-eared ground skink *'' Scincella melanosticta'' (Boulenger, 1887) - black ground skink, black-spotted smooth skink *'' Scincella modesta'' (Günther, 1864) - modest ground skink *'' Scincella monticola'' ( K.P. Schmidt, 1925) - mountainous dwarf skink *'' Scincella nigrofasciata'' *'' Scincella ochracea'' *'' Scincella potanini'' *'' Scincella przewalskii'' ( Bedriaga, 1912) *'' Scincella punctatolineata'' (Boulenger, 1893) - Burma smooth skink *'' Scincella rara'' (Darevsky & Orlov, 1997) - double subdigital-pads skink *'' Scincella reevesii'' (Gray, 1838) - Reeves's smooth skink *'' Scincella rufocaudata'' - red-tailed ground skink *'' Scincella rupicola'' *'' Scincella schmidti'' *''

Scincella silvicola ''Scincella silvicola'' is a species of skink that lives in the southern Sierra Madre Oriental and northern Sierra Madre de Oaxaca of Mexico, from Puebla to Oaxaca. It occurs primarily in dry, scrubby areas and forests, especially pine forests. I ...

'' (Taylor, 1937) *'' Scincella tsinlingensis'' ( Hu & Zhao, 1966) *'' Scincella vandenburghi'' (K.P. Schmidt, 1927) - Korean skink, Tsushima ground skink, Tsushima smooth skink) *'' Scincella victoriana'' ( Shreve, 1940) *'' Scincella wangyuezhaoi'' Jia, Gao, Huang, Ren, Jiang, & Li, 2023 ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

'': A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than ''Scincella''.

Description

Species

References

Further reading