THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part-other lizards)    Scincidae  

Florida Sand Skink
Plestiodon reynoldsi (Stejneger, 1910)
PLES-tee-oh-don — REN-olds-eye

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 There are no current SSAR comments for this taxon.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2025.06.22.15.51.09)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 0.08 MB

Province/State Distribution:
United States: Florida

Taxonomic Etymology:
Named in honor of a Florida naturalist.
Plestiodon — From Greek πλῆστιος (plēstios) meaning “most abundant” or “full”; and ὀδούς (odous, genitive odontos) meaning “tooth”; meaning: “Abundant-toothed” — possibly referencing the well-developed dentition relative to other skinks
reynoldsi — A patronym honoring Albert G. Reynolds of Gulfport, Florida, who collected the holotype specimen..

First instance(s) of published English names:
Sand Skink (Neoseps reynoldsi: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1910 Stejneger, Leonhard H. A new genus and species of lizard from Florida. Proceedings of the United States National Museum 39:33-35
1969 Telford, Sam R., Jr. Neoseps and N. reynoldsi. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (80):1-2
2005 Smith, Hobart M. Plestiodon: A replacement name for most members of the genus Eumeces in North America. Journal of Kansas Herpetology (14):15-16
2011 Brandley, Matthew C., Yuezhao Wang, Xianguang Guo, Adrian Nieto Montes De Oca, Manuel Feria-Ortiz, Tsutomu Hikda, and Hidetoshi Ota. Accommodating heterogenous rates of evolution in molecular divergence dating methods: An example using intercontinental dispersal of Plestiodon (Eumeces) lizards. Systematic Biology 60(1):2-15
2012 Brandley, Matthew C., Hidetoshi Ota, Tsutomu Hikida, Adrian Nieto Montes de Oca, Manuel Feria-Ortiz, Xianguang Guo, and Yuezhao Wang. The phylogenetic systematics of blue-tailed skinks (Plestiodon) and the family Scincidae. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 165(1):163-189

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 05 December 2025 16:54 CT