Species Hierarchy
Kingdom ANIMAL (ANIMALIA)
Phylum BACKBONED ANIMALS (CHORDATA)
Class REPTILES (REPTILIA)
Order LIZARDS AND SNAKES (SQUAMATA)
Family SKINKS (SCINCIDAE)
Common name: SKINK - WESTERN
Scentific name: EUMECES SKILTONIANUS

HABITAT
Location: CALIFORNIA, USA

Species Info:

This lifeform is found in the Pacific States and Provinces of North America.

Western skink (Eumeces skiltonianus) is found from southern British Columbia in Canada south through eastern Washington, Oregon, California, and Nevada south into Baja California. There are four named subspecies. The northern forms from British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and northern and coastal California are called the Skilton skink (Eumeces skiltonianus skiltinianus).

Skink Family (Scincidae) is a large group of fast moving lizards found essentially in the New World Tropics. A few species are found in southern North America.

Lizards and Snakes (Squamata Order) share many common characteristics and consequently they are grouped in a single order. There are greater differences between some groups of lizards than there are between other groups of lizards and snakes. The same is true of snakes. Lizards and snakes share a common skull shape.

Reptiles (Class Reptilia) are an ancient group of scaled  chordates. These scales may be permanently joined, as in the  turtles, or flexible, as in the snakes. Reptiles are land-based. Their eggs are laid on land and the young are air breathing.

Backboned Animals (Phylum Chordata) are the most advanced group of animals on earth. These animals are characterized by having a spinal cord or backbone. Most members have a clearly defined brain that controls the organism through a spinal cord. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in this phylum.

Currently, some taxonomists believe that the fish should be divided into two groups (sharks and regular fishes) and that there are some other primitive groups in the phylum such as hagfish or lampreys.

Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

 

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