Lygosoma

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Subordo: Scincomorpha
Superfamilia: Scincoidea

Familia: Scincidae
Subfamilia: Lygosominae
Genus: Lygosoma
Species (31): L. albopunctatum – L. angeli – L. anguinum – L. bampfyldei – L. boehmei – L. bowringii – L. corpulentum – L. frontoparietale – L. goaensis – L. guentheri – L. haroldyoungi – L. herberti – L. isodactylum – L. kinabatanganensis – L. koratense – L. lanceolatum – L. lineata – L. lineolatum – L. opisthorhodum – L. peninsulare – L. popae – L. pruthi – L. punctata – L. quadrupes – L. samajaya – L. schneideri – L. siamensis – L. singha – L. tabonorum – L. veunsaiensis – L. vosmaeri
Name

Lygosoma Hardwicke & Gray, 1827: 228

Type species: Lacerta serpens Bloch, 1776, by monotypy.
References
Primary references

Hardwicke, T. & Gray, J.E. 1827. A synopsis of the species of saurian reptiles, collected in India by Major-General Hardwicke. The Zoological Journal 3: 213–229. BHL

Additional references

Srinivasulu, C., Srinivasulu, B., Srinivasulu, A. & Seetharamaraju, M. 2016. No longer supple? Molecular phylogeny suggests generic reassignment of Lygosoma ashwamedhi (Sharma, 1969) (Reptilia: Scincidae). Zootaxa 4127(1): 135–148. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4127.1.7. Reference page.
Karin, B.R., Freitas, E.S., Shonleben, S., Grismer, L.L., Bauer, A.M. & Das, I. 2018. Unrealized diversity in an urban rainforest: A new species of Lygosoma (Squamata: Scincidae) from western Sarawak, Malaysia (Borneo). Zootaxa 4370(4): 345–362. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4370.4.2 Reference page.

Links

Uetz, P. & Hallermann, J. 2022. Lygosoma . The Reptile Database. Accessed on 14 February 2019.

Vernacular names
English: Writhing skinks

Lygosoma is a genus of lizards, commonly known as supple skinks or writhing skinks, which are members of the family Scincidae. Lygosoma is the type genus of the subfamily Lygosominae.

Geographic range

Species of Lygosoma are found in India to southeast Asia.[2]
Behavior

The common name, writhing skinks, refers to the way these stubby-legged animals move, snake-like but more slowly and more awkwardly.
Taxonomy

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Lygosoma was used as a "wastebin taxon", to which almost every newly described skink was assigned.[3]

Which specific species are contained within this genus is controversial because of its unresolved historic relation to two other closely-related genera: Mochlus and Lepidothyris. Currently, there are 16 known species in Lygosoma, 15 known species in Mochlus, and three known species in Lepidothyris. However, some species under the latter two genera are often listed under Lygosoma, and Lygosoma was recently found to be paraphyletic to the other two genera based on phylogenetic studies. To clear up this confusion, all species (49) pertaining to these three genera are classified as Lygosoma s.l. and the known 16 species under Lygosoma are classified as Lygosoma s.s.[2]

After performing extensive phylogenetic analyses (genetic and molecular, species tree, and morphological anaylses), the classification of Lygosoma s.l. was further revised to containing four genera: Lygosoma (Southeast Asian Writhing Skinks), Mochlus (African Supple Skinks), Riopa (Asian Gracile Skinks), and Subdoluseps gen. nov. (Asian Agile Skinks). Genus Lygosoma s.s. was found to be separated into three clades instead of being a monophyletic group in relation to other genera within Lygosoma s.l., which in turn renamed this genus to Lygosoma and contains species that have Lygosoma quadrupes as their common ancestor. Mochlus was also found to be paraphyletic to Lepidothyris, making it not a monophyletic group and ultimately grouping genera Mochlus and Lepidothyris as one genus, Mochlus. Riopa was a recently discovered genus from about 11 years ago and was supported as a monophyletic group within Lygosoma s.l., and Subdoluseps gen. nov. is also a newly added genus to this group.[2]
Species

The following species are recognized.[4][5]

Lygosoma angeli (M.A. Smith, 1937) – Angel's writhing skink
Lygosoma bampfyldei Bartlett, 1895 – Bampfylde's supple skink, Bampfylde's writhing skink
Lygosoma boehmei Ziegler et al., 2007
Lygosoma corpulentum M.A. Smith, 1921 – fat skink
Lygosoma haroldyoungi (Taylor, 1962) – banded supple skink, Harold's writhing skink, Harold Young's supple skink
Lygosoma isodactylum (Günther, 1864) – Siamese writhing skink, even-toed supple skink
Lygosoma kinabatanganense Grismer, Quah, Duzulkafly & Yambun, 2018 – Kinabatangan supple skink
Lygosoma koratense M.A. Smith, 1917 – Korat supple skink, Koraten writhing skink
Lygosoma opisthorhodum F. Werner, 1910
Lygosoma peninsulare Grismer, Quah, Duzulkafly & Yambun, 2018
Lygosoma quadrupes (Linnaeus, 1766) – short-limbed supple skink, Linnaeus's writhing skink
Lygosoma schneideri F. Werner, 1900 – Sumatran supple skink
Lygosoma siamense Siler, Heitz, Davis, Freitas, Aowphol, Termprayoon & Grismer, 2018 – Siamese supple skink
Lygosoma singha (Taylor, 1950)
Lygosoma tabonorum Heitz, Diesmos, Freitas, Ellsworth & Grismer, 2016 – Palawan supple skink
Lygosoma veunsaiense Geissler, Hartmann & Neang, 2012

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a genus other than Lygosoma.
References

Hardwicke T, Gray JE (1828). "A Synopsis of the Species of Saurian Reptiles, collected in India by Major-General Hardwicke". The Zoological Journal 3: 213-229. (Lygosoma, new genus, p. 228).
Freitas, Elyse S; Datta-Roy, Aniruddha; Karanth, Praveen; Grismer, L Lee; Siler, Cameron D (2019). "Multilocus phylogeny and a new classification for African, Asian and Indian supple and writhing skinks (Scincidae: Lygosominae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 186 (4): 1067–1096. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz001.
Shea & Michels 2008.
"Lygosoma ". Dahms Tierleben. http://www.dahmstierleben.de/systematik/Reptilien/Squamata/Scincomorpha/scincidae/lygosominae Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine.

Genus Lygosoma at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.