Skink (source code)
= Skink
= Scincidae
{c}
{synonym}
A <skink> is a <lizard> in the family <Scincidae>, within <Squamata>. The family contains a wide range of body forms, from animals with four well-developed limbs to elongated forms with strongly reduced limbs or none externally visible. A long, legless body therefore does not establish that a reptile is a <snake>.<Built for success: Distribution, morphology, ecology and life history of the world's skinks by David G. Chapple and others>[section 3.2 and Figure7, body shape and limb reduction]{ref}
A 2023 comparative dataset classified $22.8\%$ of its <skink> <species> as having reduced or absent limbs, using limb proportions relative to snout-to-vent length. This makes the comparison measurable: a short absolute leg length in a tiny animal is different from a short leg relative to the animal's body. Placing those measurements on a <phylogenetic tree> permits tests of repeated evolutionary changes instead of treating every similar body shape as one inherited event.<Built for success: Distribution, morphology, ecology and life history of the world's skinks by David G. Chapple and others>[section 3.2, 398 limb-reduced or limbless species and comparison with non-scincid lizards]{ref}
Reproduction is diverse as well. Some <skinks> lay eggs and others give birth to live young. In the same dataset, about one third of the <species> with known reproductive mode were live-bearing; that qualification matters because unknown cases were excluded. A family name captures ancestry without requiring every member to share one body plan or reproductive mode.<Built for success: Distribution, morphology, ecology and life history of the world's skinks by David G. Chapple and others>[section 3.3, denominators and reproductive-mode frequencies]{ref}
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