THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Scincidae  

Prairie Skink
Plestiodon septentrionalis Baird, 1859

Current SSAR 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: 2024.01.17.22.46.39)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.08 MB

First instance(s) of published English names:
Northern Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis: Jordan, David Starr. 1876. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Jansen, McClurg, and Company, Chicago, Illinois.. 342pp.); Coal Skink (Eumeces anthracinus: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Northern Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis: Jordan, David S. 1878. Manual of the Vertebrates of the Northern United States: Including the District East of the Mississippi River, and North of North Carolina and Tennessee, Exclusive of Marine Species. Second Edition, Revised, and Enlarged. Jansen, McClurg & Company, Chicago. pp.); Western Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Prairie Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Southern Prairie Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis obtusirostris: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Edwards Plateau Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis pallidus: Schmidt, Karl P. 1953. A Check List of North American Amphibians and Reptiles. 6th Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois. 280pp.); Northern Prairie Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis septentrionalis: 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

Pertinent LIterature:
1859 Baird, Spencer F. Description of new genera and species of North American lizards in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution. [1858] Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 10():253-256
1881 Bocourt, Marie F. Etudes sur les reptiles. [Studies on reptiles.] Pages 441–488 in Duméril, Mocquard, and Bocourt, 1870-1909. Recherches Zoologiques pour servir a l'Histoire de Ia Faune de l'Amérique Centrale et du Mexique. Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amér. Livraison 7. [ Zoological Research to be used in the History of the Fauna of Central America and Mexico. Scientific Mission to Mexico and America. Delivery 7]. Imprimerie Impériale [Imperial Printing Office], Paris, France. pp.
1936 Taylor, Edward H. A taxonomic study of the cosmopolitan scincoid lizards of the genus Eumeces, with an account of the distribution and relationships of its species. University of Kansas Science Bulletin 23(1):1-643
1949 Smith, Hobart M. and James A. Slater. The southern races of Eumeces septentrionalis. Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 52(4):438-448
1985 Brygoo, E. R. Les types de Scincidés (reptiles, Sauriens) du Muséum national d’Historire naturelle. Catalogue critique. [Types of Scincidae (reptiles, Saurians) from the National Museum of Natural History. Critical catalog.] Bulletin du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle [Bulletin of the National Museum of Natural History] 4(7, Supplement):1–126
1991 Collins, Joseph T. Viewpoint: A new taxonomic arrangement for some North American amphibins and reptiles Herpetological Review 22(2):42-43
1993 Collins, Joseph T. and Suzanne L. Collins. Amphibians and Reptiles in Kansas. Third Edition. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Lawrence. 397pp.
1999 Axtell, Ralph W Eumeces septentrionalis (Baird). Interpretive Atlas of Texas Lizards 22: Privately published, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Edwardsville, Illinois. 1–14 + mappp.
2004 Schmitz, Andreas, Patrick Mausfeld, and Dirk Embert. Molecular studies on the genus Eumeces Weigmann, 1834: Phylogenetic relationships and taxonomic implications Hamadryad 28(1-2):73-89
2004 Fuerst, Gregory S. and Christopher C. Austin. Population genetic structure of the Prairie Skink (Eumeces septentrionalis): Nested clade analysis of post Pleistocene populations. Journal of Herpetology 38(2):257-268
2008 Bauer, Aaron M., G. Shea, and R. Günther. An annotated catalogue of the types of scincid lizards (Reptilia, Squamata, Scincidae) in the collection of the Museums für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (ZMB). Zoosystematics and Evolution 79():253–321
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
2023 Lieb, Carl S. Catalog 3: Type specimens, type localities, synonymies, and authors/collectors of amphibians and reptiles described from Texas. Pages 213-237 in Taxonomic Catalogs for the Recent Terrestrial Vertebrates (Species and Subspecies) described from Texas. Museum of Texas Tech University Special Publications 77, Lubbock, Texas. pp.

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Thursday 30 January 2025 01:53 CT