Prairie Skink - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The Prairie Skink was first described by Baird in 1859. Two subspecies are generally recognized:

• Northern Prairie Skink, E.s. septentrionalis (Baird, 1859, as Plestiodon septentrionalis)
• Southern Prairie Skink, E.s. obtusirostris (Bocourt, 1879, as E. obtusirostris)

A third subspecies has been described as E.s. pallidus, the "Pallid Skink", by Smith and Slater in 1949, but this subspecies is absent from the literature for the past more than 40 years, and it is unclear whether it exists or coincides with one of the other two subspecies.

The scientific name of the species derives from Latin: septentrionalis means "northern". Latin obtusirostris means "blunt-nosed". Despite the scientific name E.s. obtusirostris translating to "blunt-nosed northern great skink", it is a southern species.