Plestiodon multivirgatus, commonly known as the many-lined skink, the northern many-lined skink, or the variable skink, is a medium-sized species of lizard, a member of the North American skink genus Plestiodon in the family Scincidae. The species is native to the western United States.
Taxonomy
The taxonomy of this species is somewhat unclear, even amongst researchers. Most commonly, two subspecies are recognized:
- P. m. multivirgatus (Hallowell, 1857) – northern many-lined skink
- P. m. epipleurotus (Cope, 1880) – variable skink
The latter is sometimes treated as a separate species Plestiodon epipleurotus or Plestiodon gaigeae (Taylor, 1935), or given as the subspecies P. m. gaigeae. These last two scientific names are in honor of American herpetologist Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige (1890–1976) of the University of Michigan.
P. m. epipleurotus is also called the two-lined skink.
Description
The many-lined skink is a medium-sized skink reaching a maximum snout-to-vent length (SVL) of about and a total length of roughly . Its body is olive to brown in color. P. m. multivirgatus has black stripes along the body and tail, while P. m. epipleurotus has two white stripes with black borders.