Recently two
taxonomic revisions have been made regarding the 19th century
genus Eumeces. They both resulted in similar results; the
genus is
paraphyletic and must be "sliced up" into several different
genera. Griffith et al. (2000) proposed that the
type species for
Eumeces,
E. pavimentatus, which is considered by many to be a
subspecies of
Eumeces schneiderii, should be changed to
Lacerta fasciata, so that the genus name
Eumeces would stay with the most species-rich
clade. However this petition has not been verified by the
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature.
Schmitz et al. argued that Griffith et al. violated the Code and rejected the proposal on good grounds. Thus only the African
species of the
Eumeces schneiderii group still belong to the genus
Eumeces. Species that are now in
Plestiodon: •
Plestiodon anthracinus – coal skink •
Plestiodon barbouri –
Barbour's eyelid skink •
Plestiodon bilineatus – two-lined short-nosed skink •
Plestiodon brevirostris – short-nosed skink •
Plestiodon callicephalus – mountain skink •
Plestiodon capito – Gail's eyelid skink •
Plestiodon chinensis – Chinese blue-tailed skink •
Plestiodon colimensis – Colima skink •
Plestiodon copei – Cope's skink •
Plestiodon coreensis – Smith's skink •
Plestiodon dicei – Dice's short-nosed skink •
Plestiodon dugesii –
Dugès's skink •
Plestiodon egregius – mole skink •
Plestiodon elegans – five-striped blue-tailed skink, Shanghai elegant skink •
Plestiodon fasciatus – five-lined skink •
Plestiodon finitimus – Far Eastern skink •
Plestiodon gilberti –
Gilbert's skink •
Plestiodon indubitus – Mexican short-nosed skink •
Plestiodon inexpectatus – southeastern five-lined skink •
Plestiodon japonicus •
Plestiodon kishinouyei –
Kishinouye's giant skink •
Plestiodon kuchinoshimensis •
Plestiodon lagunensis – San Lucan skink •
Plestiodon laticeps – broad-headed skink •
Plestiodon latiscutatus – Far Eastern skink, Japanese five-lined skink •
Plestiodon leucostictus – Chinese blue-tailed skink •
Plestiodon liui •
Plestiodon longiartus •
Plestiodon longirostris – Bermuda skink, longnose skink, or the
rock lizard •
Plestiodon lotus •
Plestiodon lynxe – oak forest skink •
Plestiodon marginatus – Okinawa blue-tailed skink, Ousima skink •
Plestiodon multilineatus – Chihuahuan skink •
Plestiodon multivirgatus – many-lined skink •
Plestiodon nietoi •
Plestiodon obsoletus –
Great Plains skink •
Plestiodon ochoterenae – Guerreran skink •
Plestiodon oshimensis – Ousima skink •
Plestiodon parviauriculatus – northern pygmy skink •
Plestiodon parvulus – southern pygmy skink •
Plestiodon popei – Pope's skink •
Plestiodon quadrilineatus – four-striped skink, Hong Kong skink •
Plestiodon reynoldsi – Florida sand skink •
Plestiodon septentrionalis – prairie skink •
Plestiodon skiltonianus – western skink •
Plestiodon stimpsonii – Stimpson's skink •
Plestiodon sumichrasti – Sumichrast's skink •
Plestiodon takarai – Senkaku skink •
Plestiodon tamdaoensis – Vietnam skink •
Plestiodon tetragrammus – four-lined skink •
Plestiodon tunganus Nota bene: A
binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than
Plestiodon. Species that are now in
Eurylepis: •
Eumeces poonaensis – now
Eurylepis poonaensis •
Eumeces taeniolatus – now
Eurylepis taeniolata Species that are now in
Mesoscincus: •
Eumeces altamirani – now
Mesoscincus altamirani •
Eumeces managuae – now
Mesoscincus managuae •
Eumeces schwartzei – now
Mesoscincus schwartzei Plestiodon brevirostris group The
Plestiodon brevirostris group consists of 14 species. •
Plestiodon bilineatus,
Plestiodon copei,
Plestiodon dicei,
Plestiodon dugesii,
Plestiodon indubitus,
Plestiodon lynxe, and
Plestiodon parviauriculatus – highlands of the central
Mexican Plateau,
Sierra Madre Occidental,
Sierra Madre Oriental, and
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt •
Plestiodon lotus –
Balsas Basin •
Plestiodon colimensis and
Plestiodon parvulus – Pacific lowlands from northwestern
Michoacán to
Sonora •
Plestiodon sumichrasti – the Atlantic versant from central
Veracruz south and east through northern
Guatemala and
Belize to
Honduras •
Plestiodon brevirostris –
Sierra Madre del Sur •
Plestiodon nietoi and
Plestiodon ochoterenae –
Sierra Madre del Sur, in south-central
Guerrero and from central Guerrero to western
Oaxaca ==References==