NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Horsehead Ground Skink
Scincella caudaequinae (Smith, 1951)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
![Horsetail Falls ground skink (Scincella [silvicola] caudaequinae) municipality of Jaumave, Tamaulipas, Mexico (11 August 2003). Photographed on 11 August 2003 by William L. Farr. This image was originally photographed with film and later scanned from a print.](/assets/optimized/2ecbe9bed3928254184e57b0e0a6bda61e71eec502a8e6c6048bacad55297ce0.webp)
Horsetail Falls ground skink (Scincella [silvicola] caudaequinae) municipality of Jaumave, Tamaulipas, Mexico (11 August 2003). Photographed on 11 August 2003 by William L. Farr. This image was originally photographed with film and later scanned from a print.
William L. Farr · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Scincella caudaequinae, commonly known as the Horsetail Falls ground skink, is a species of reptile in the family Scincidae that is endemic to Mexico. It was named for the type locality "Horsetail Falls, 25 miles south of Monterrey, Nuevo, Leon". Scincella caudaequinae occurs in the northern Sierra Madre Oriental in Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, southeast Coahuila, and Tamaulipas. It was considered a subspecies of Scincella silvicola for many decades.
Wikipedia contributors, Scincella caudaequinae; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:07:24.341778+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Scincella caudaequinae (Smith, 1951)
- Name authority
- (Smith, 1951)
- Common name
- Horsehead Ground Skink
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Scincidae
- Genus
- Scincella
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderAutarchoglossa
- familyScincidae
- subfamilySphenomorphinae
- genusScincella
- speciesScincella caudaequinae (Smith, 1951)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Scincella. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Huulien Ground SkinkScincella apraefrontalis Nguyen, Nguyen, Böhme & Ziegler, 2010 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Ground SkinkScincella assata (Cope, 1864) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Barbour's Ground SkinkScincella barbouri (Stejneger, 1925) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Boettger's Ground SkinkScincella boettgeri (Van Denburgh, 1912) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Forbe’s Forest Ground SkinkScincella forbesorum (Taylor, 1937) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Van Denburgh's Ground SkinkScincella formosensis (Van Denburgh, 1912) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cope’s Forest Ground SkinkScincella gemmingeri (Cope, 1864) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Scincella huanrenensis Zhao & Huang, 1982 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Large- eared ground skinkScincella macrotis (Steindachner, 1867) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Scincella potanini (Günther, 1896) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Burma Smooth SkinkScincella punctatolineata (Boulenger, 1893) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Double subdigital-pads skinkScincella rara (Darevsky & Orlov, 1997) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Leiolopisma caudaequinae Smith, 1951 Smith, 1951 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Scincella&species=caudaequinae Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:79XWC. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.