Family SCINCIDAE

Museums

Regional Maps

• Scincoides Oppel, M. 1811. Die Ordnungen, Familien und Gattungen der Reptilien, als prodrom einer Naturgeschichte Derselben. München : Lindauer xii 86 pp. [20].

  Secondary source:

   Gray, J.E. 1838. Catalogue of the slender-tongued saurians, with descriptions of many new genera and species. (contd.). Annals and Magazine of Natural History 2: 287-293 [1839 on title page] [287] (as Scincidae - corrected termination of Scincoides Oppel 1811 and Scincidia Rafinesque 1815, and cor-rected spelling of Sincidae Gray, see Shea (2021) for further details.); Shea, G.M. 2021. Nomenclature of supra-generic units within the Family Scincidae (Squamata). Zootaxa 5067(3): 301-351 [25].

Introduction

This largest and most diverse family of lizards contains more than 1,275 species in 85 genera; of these, some 389 species and 38 genera occur in Australia and make up about 50% of our total lizard fauna. The family is represented in all tropical and temperate regions, although it is most speciose in the region encompassing Africa, southern Asia, the Indo-Australian Archipelago, New Guinea and Australia.

A recent proposal by Hedges (2014), based on a molecular phylogeny, to split Scincidae into 7 separate families (5 of which would include Australian representatives) is not followed here. A second analysis based on "data from 10 nuclear genes for 17 ingroup taxa and 44 genes for 12 taxa" by Lambert et al. (2014) found Scincidae to be a monophyletic group, probably comprising 3 subgroups at subfamily level.

Shea (2021) provides a new family group classification of the Scinidae with detailed synonymies for supra-generic taxa.

Excluded Taxa

Misidentifications

SCINCIDAE: Lygosoma Hardwicke & Gray, 1827 [Eumeces bowringii Günther, A. 1864 (Christmas Island Grass-skink) the only representative of Lygosoma in Australia placed into new genus Subdoluseps Freitas, Datta-Roy, Karanth, Grismer & Siler, 2019] — Freitas, E.S., Datta-Roy, A., Karanth, P., Grismer, L.L. & Siler, C.D. 2019. Multilocus phylogeny and a new classification for African, Asian and Indian supple and writhing skinks (Scincidae: Lygosominae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 186: 1067-1096 [1088]

Diagnosis

Characterised in Australia by: limbs variable, ranging from well-developed pentadactyl forms through various stages of limb and digit reduction to snake- or worm-like forms in which limbs are entirely absent; eyelids either movable or fixed, the latter either forming a complete, sealed spectacle or with a slit-like opening above; pupil usually circular, sometimes vertically elliptical; external ear opening either present or absent; body scales usually imbricate, rarely juxtaposed; tongue broad, flat and fleshy, slightly notched in front; scales on top of head usually enlarged to form a series of symmetrical shields.

General References

Cogger, H.G. 1979. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Sydney : A.H. & A.W. Reed 608 pp.

Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia. Sydney : Reed New Holland 6th edition, 808 pp.

Hedges, S.B. The high-level classification of skinks (Reptilia, Squamata, Scincomorpha). Zootaxa 3765(4): 317–338

Lambert, S.M., Reeder, T.W. & Wiens, J.J. 2014. When do species-tree and concatenated estimates disagree? An empirical analysis with higher-level scincid lizard phylogeny. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

Shea, G.M. 2021. Nomenclature of supra-generic units within the Family Scincidae (Squamata). Zootaxa 5067(3): 301-351

Skinner, A. 2007. Phylogenetic relationships and rate of early diversification of Australian Sphenomorphus group scincids (Scincoidea, Squamata). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society of London 92: 347-366

Skinner, A., Hutchinson, M.N. & Lee, M.S.Y. 2013. Phylogeny and divergence times of Australian Sphenomorphus group skinks (Scincidae, Squamata). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 69(3): 906-918

Wilson, S. & Swan, G. 2013. A complete guide to Reptiles of Australia. New Holland 3rd, pp. 592.

Worrell, E. 1970. Reptiles of Australia. Sydney : Angus & Robertson xv 169 pp.

History of changes