Eumeces
The genus Eumeces comprises four African to Middle-Eastern skink species.
Systematics
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. 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. Schimtz 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 belong to the genus Eumeces.Within Eumeces the following species are recognized:
- Eumeces algeriensis – Algerian skink
- Eumeces blythianus – Blyth's skink
- Eumeces cholistanensis
- Eumeces indothalensis – striped mole skink
- Eumeces persicus – Persian striped skink
- Eumeces schneiderii – Schneider's skink
- Eumeces zarudnyi
Now in Plestiodon:
- Plestiodon anthracinus, coal skink
- Plestiodon barbouri, Barbour's skink
- Plestiodon brevirostris, short-nosed skink
- Plestiodon callicephalus, North American mountain skink
- Plestiodon capito
- Plestiodon chinensis, Chinese skink
- Plestiodon colimensis
- Plestiodon copei
- Plestiodon coreensis, Korean big skink
- Plestiodon dugesii - rare
- Plestiodon egregius, mole skink
- Plestiodon elegans, elegant skink, five-striped blue-tailed skink, or Shanghai skink
- Plestiodon fasciatus, common five-lined skink
- Plestiodon gilberti, Gilbert's skink
- Plestiodon inexpectatus, southeastern five-lined skink
- Plestiodon kishinouyei, Kishinoue's giant skink
- Plestiodon lagunensis, San Lucan skink
- Plestiodon laticeps, broad-headed skink
- Plestiodon latiscutatus, Okada's Five-lined Skink
- Plestiodon liui
- Plestiodon longirostris, Bermuda rock skink
- Plestiodon lynxe, oak forest skink
- Plestiodon marginatus, Ryūkyū five-lined skink
- Plestiodon multilineatus
- Plestiodon multivirgatus, many-lined skink
- *Plestiodon gaigeae, variable skink - sometimes Eumeces epipleurotus
- Plestiodon obsoletus, Great Plains skink
- Plestiodon ochoterenae
- Plestiodon okadae, Okada's five-lined skink
- Plestiodon parviauriculatus, northern pygmy skink
- Plestiodon parvulus, southern pygmy skink
- Plestiodon popei
- Plestiodon quadrilineatus, four-lined Asian skink
- Plestiodon septentrionalis, prairie skink - includes Eumeces obtusirostris
- Plestiodon skiltonianus, western skink
- Plestiodon stimpsonii, Yaeyama seven-lined skink
- Plestiodon sumichrasti
- Plestiodon tamdaoensis
- Plestiodon tetragrammus, four-lined skink
- Plestiodon tunganus
- Eumeces indothalensis - now Eurylepis indothalensis
- Eumeces poonaensis - now Eurylepis poonaensis
- Eumeces taeniolatus - now Eurylepis taeniolata
- Eumeces altamirani - now Mesoscincus altamirani
- Eumeces managuae - now Mesoscincus managuae
- Eumeces schwartzei - now ''Mesoscincus schwartzei''