Skinky

Skinky
	Apothekerskink ( Scincus scincus )
Systematics
Row :	Land vertebrates (Tetrapoda)
without rank:	Amniotes (Amniota)
without rank:	Sauropsida
Superordinate :	Scale lizards (Lepidosauria)
Order :	Scale reptiles (Squamata)
without rank:	Skinky
Scientific name
	Scincoidea
	Oppel , 1811

The Skink-like (Scincoidea) are a taxon of the squamata (Squamata). The lizards belonging to them live worldwide in the tropics and subtropics mostly on the ground and often in arid areas. Few skinks can climb and live in trees. Among them there are snake-like species with reduced limbs. All Scincoidea have a tongue that is covered by superimposed, flat scales.

Systematics

Traditionally the Scincoidea were combined with the Lacertoidea to form the "Scincomorpha":

Scincomorpha
- Scincoidea
  - Skinks (Scincidae)
  - Belt tails (Cordylidae)
  - Shield lizards (Gerrhosauridae)
  - Night lizards (Xantusiidae)
- Lacertoidea
  - Real lizards (Lacertidae)
  - Rail lizards (Teiidae)
  - Zwergtejus (Gymnophthalmidae)

In addition, some scientists took the view that the legless double snakes ( Amphisbaenia) and snake snakes (Dibamidae) belong to the Scincomorpha.

Molecular biological studies, however, now discard the monophyly of the Scincomorpha. The snake creeps are a primitive group at the base of the Squamat cladogram . The real lizards (Lacertidae) are no longer regarded as skink-like, but as a sister group of the double sneaks and placed with them in the new taxon Lacertibaenia. With the rail lizards and the dwarf teas, which are also no longer counted among the skink-like, they form another new taxon, the laterata (also still called lacertoidea). The remaining Skink-like, the Skinke, Nitweed, Belt-tails and Shielded lizards, form the new taxon Scinciformata, which corresponds to the previous superfamily Scincoidea; however, the latter name is still used.

The following cladogram summarizes this molecular relationship hypothesis:

Scincoidea (Scinciformata)

Skinks (Scincidae)

Cordylomorpha

Night lizards (Xantusiidae)

Cordyloidea

	Belt tails (Cordylidae)

	Shield lizards (Gerrhosauridae)

literature

Wolfgang Böhme : Squamata, scale reptiles. In: Wilfried Westheide , Reinhard Rieger (Ed.): Special Zoology. Part 2: vertebrates or skulls. Gustav Fischer Verlag, 2004, ISBN 3-8274-0900-4 , pp. 354-357.
Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt: Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity (Organisms and Environments) . University of California Press, 2003, ISBN 0-520-23401-4

Web links

Commons : Skinky (Scincomorpha) - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Nicolas Vidal, S. Blair Hedges: The phylogeny of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) inferred from nine nuclear protein-coding genes . (PDF) In: CR Biologies , 328, 2005, pp. 1000-1008.
↑ T. Townsend, A. Larson, E. Louis, JR Macey: Molecular phylogenetics of squamata: the position of snakes, amphisbaenians, and dibamids, and the root of the squamate tree. In: Syst Biol. , 2004 Oct, 53 (5), pp. 735-757, PMID 15545252
^ Nicolas Vidal, S. Blair Hedges: Lizards, snakes and amphisbaenias (Squamata) . (PDF) In: S. Blair Hedges, Sudhir Kumar: The Timetree of Life. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-953503-5 .

[1] Nicolas Vidal, S. Blair Hedges: The phylogeny of squamate reptiles (lizards, snakes, and amphisbaenians) inferred from nine nuclear protein-coding genes . (PDF) In: CR Biologies , 328, 2005, pp. 1000-1008.

[2] T. Townsend, A. Larson, E. Louis, JR Macey: Molecular phylogenetics of squamata: the position of snakes, amphisbaenians, and dibamids, and the root of the squamate tree. In: Syst Biol. , 2004 Oct, 53 (5), pp. 735-757, PMID 15545252

[3] Nicolas Vidal, S. Blair Hedges: Lizards, snakes and amphisbaenias (Squamata) . (PDF) In: S. Blair Hedges, Sudhir Kumar: The Timetree of Life. Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-953503-5 .