iSk ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY The Ground Skink, Scincella lateralis, in Illinois: Range and Possible Recent History Ralph W. Axtell and Carol A. Bryant Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes 142 September 2006 Illinois Natural History Survey, David L. Thomas, Chief l-Building 1 81 6 South Oak Street Champaign, Illinois 61820 (217)333-6880 A Division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources Printed by authority of the State of Illinois P01 08483- 1M -09-06 US ISSN 0073-490X Editor: Charles Warw/ick Cover photograph: Ground skink from Illinois Natural History Survey Image Archives. Suggested citation: Axtell, R.W., and C.A. Bryant. 2006. The ground skink, Scin- cella lateralis, in Illinois: range and possible recent history. Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes 142. 12 pp. Authors' addresses: R.W. Axtell Department of Biological Sciences, Southern Illinois University, Edw/ardsville, Illinois 62026 raxtell@siue.edu C.A. Bryant 7841 South Panther Creek Road, Mt. Olive, Illinois 62069 cabryant2@frontiernet.net Equal opportunity to participate in programs of the Illinois Depart- ment of Natural Resources (IDNR) and those funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other agencies is available to all individuals regardless of race, sex, national origin, disability, age, religion, or other non-merit factors. If you believe you have been discriminated against, contact the funding source's civil rights office and/or the Equal Employment Opportunity Officer, IDNR, One Natural Resources Way, Springfield, IL 62702-1271; 217/785- 0067; TTY 217/782-9175. This information may be provided in an alternative format if required. Contact DNR Clearinghouse at 217/782-7498 for assistance. ILLINOIS NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY The Ground Skink, Scincella lateralis, in Illinois: Range and Possible Recent History Ralph W. Axtell and Carol A. Bryant Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes 142 September 2006 CONTENTS Abstract 1 Introduction 1 Methods 1 Scincella lateralis (Say) 1 Type 1 Type Locality 1 Taxonomic Status 1 Orientation and Synthesis of Illinois Distribution 1 Presumed Barriers to Gene Flow and Holocene History 4 Dispersal Mode and Distributional Status 4 Population Density 4 Earliest IllinoisVoucher 4 Fossil Records in Illinois 4 Erroneous, Questioned, and Historic Records 4 Extinction Prone Populations 5 Map Symbols 5 Locality Vouchers 5 Abbreviations Used 5 Locality Vouchers 5 Acknowledgments 9 Literature Cited 10 ABSTRACT The Illinois distribution of Scincella lateralis is portrayed on a shaded relief map. From map portrayal, this lizard appears distribu- tionally uncommon and probably relictual in the north, common and distributionally continuous in the south. Some northern popula- tions may be nearing local or regional extinction, while southern populations are considered secure. We speculate that northern range expansion probably took place during the warmer, drier Holocene "Xerothermic" interval from ca 8,000 to ca 4.000 years BP. The current range in Illinois cannot be interpreted to support a recent (ca 100 year) Global Warming Hypothesis, but it can be interpreted to support some regional cooling after 4.000 years BP, and later (from ca 1650 until about 1850 AD.) INTRODUCTION As with RWA"s work on Texas lizards, this project was initiated to gamer most Illinois lizard locality information that has accumulated over the past 200 years, and to expand our understanding of the actual areal distribution of the taxa involved. Such information cannot come from county distribution maps. With this information, we should be able to propose hypotheses for both the historic occupation and the current population status of lizards within the state. Hopeful- ly it will also lead to more directed range investigations and serve as a verified baseline from which future distributional studies can proceed. METHODS We contacted several museums in the United States and requested their Illinois Scincella lateralis locality records, collectors, and dates of collection. With this information, we converted all localities to geographic coordinates (lat-long.) and elevations using USGS l:24,000-scale maps or computer sites. Site error in this process was, in most cases, probably no more than one to three kilometers from the actual point of collection. These coordinates were then converted to decimal degrees, and Research System's IDL software was used to plot the points (as dots) on a shaded relief map elaborated by Ray Sterner of the Applied Physics Laboratory. Johns Hop- kins University. As far as we know, none of the coordinates below were generated with a GPS instrument. Scincella lateralis (Say) Ground Skink (see Fig. 1 on page 2) Sciiicus lateralis Say 1823:324-325. Original description (a footnote in James 1823). Lygosoma lateralis Dumen] and Bibron 1839:719. New combination. Oligosoma laterale. Cope 1875:44. New combination. Leiolopisma laterale. Jordan 1899:201. New combination. Scincella laterale. M'\n\eman 1950:19. New combination and new generic name proposed. Scincella lateralis, Greer 1974:7. Gender agreement change. Synonymy above shows the variety of names used over time and is not intended to be complete. Type— A specimen (holotype) was originally placed in the ■'Philadelphia Museum" (= Peale Museum, not the Philadel- phia Academy of Sciences) by Thomas Say (Say 1823), with no number reported. The disposition of this specimen, if it still exists, is currently unknown. Cope (1900:624) errone- ously considered and reported USNM 3152. collected on the "Arkansas River" (no state given) by Samuel W. Woodhouse as the type. Type Locality— "Banks of [the] Mississippi River below Cape Girardeau. Missouri" (As far as we can determine, this statement first appeared in Stejneger and Barbour [1917]. and it was presumably initiated by them, but without comment. It did not appear in the original description, and we have not found it in any prior publication.). Most subsequent workers have interpreted this to mean "near" Cape Girardeau in Mis- souri, but this interpretation is questioned. Robert Reynolds of the National Museum and the senior author are investigat- ing this problem. Taxonomic Status— The species is considered monotypic. See Brooks ( 1975) for comment on variation and most eariier references. Orientation and Syntliesis of Illinois Distribution — (In- terpretations based on map patterns, published literature, and knowledge of Illinois environments). A diurnal, terrestrial, subheliothermic (= secretive), insectivorous (scurry and grab predator), biparentai. oviparous lizard belonging to the genus Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes Scincella in the family Scincidae (Greer, 1974). Warm season temperatures are probably more important for distributional limitation within Illinois, than is precipitation. White and Jacobs (1968, 30-year record) show a 180 frost free day line at approximately the northern edge of the current distribution. Figure 1. The ground skink. Scincella lateralis, from Young County, Texas. Photo courtes) of [103 D Hit bitts. Texas Herpetological Society. Figure 2. Habitat of Scincella lateralis (m, around, and under logs) Clark County, Illinois. (Photo courtesy C. Drew Foster, Santa Barbara Zoological Gardens). Warm season (April to mid October) precipitation varies from ca 35 cm ( 1 4 in. ) in the north to ca 37 cm ( 1 5 in.) in the south, with a slightly higher concentration from late March to June. East-west precipitation is even less variable across the state. Areas inhabited are now generally in deciduous forest regions (see Kiichler 1964), which generally have considerable leafy ground cover. The lizards feed and sun as they move between leafy patches on or near the forest floor (Fig. 2). They seek burrows or rock cover when body temperatures approach levels at which normal activity is hampered. Grassland areas in the state (most of which have now been con- verted to agriculture) were probably never inhabited. Historically, the Embarras, Little Wabash, Saline, Cache, and Big Muddy River basins appear to have been populated in the east, while parts of the Mississippi and Illinois River basins were populated in the west. Strangely, there is no evidence that the Kas- kaskia River basin has ever been populated. By using the term "river basin" we do not imply that Scincella is a floodplain denizen, for in Illinois, it appears to shun flat areas, even though fairly extensive floodplain forested zones are still present locally. The only known flood- plain site in the list below is at Fults (Monroe Co.), but we presume that this material came from the bluff east of Fults rather than from the village itself. Note that an interesting range discontinuity appears in the western Shawnee Hills of southern Illinois. It in- cludes both eastern Union and western Johnson counties (see map. Fig. 3). This could be an actual range gap or an artifact of minimal collecting in the region. September 2006 Axtell and Bryant: The Ground Skink, Scincella lateralis, in Illinois: Range and Possible Recent History 42 Figure 3. Shaded relief map of Illinois (courtesy. Ray Sterner with modifications by CAB) showing known distribution (red dots) of vouchered Scincella lateralis. Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes Presumed Barriers to Gene Flow and Holocene History— If this skink is absent from floodplains in Illinois (and by ex- tension adjacent states as well), the widest of these floodplains must have presented formidable barriers when Scincella popu- lations first moved northward into the state. The source of these founding populations remains an interesting unanswered question, but one that might be answered by DNA analysis of surrounding populations in adjacent states. We doubt that any founders could have come from direct crossovers, but rather favor a hypothesis of flood dispersal from sites along water- ways upstream in adjacent states (Missouri or Kentucky). We speculate that much (if not all) of the more recent Holo- cene northward range expansions took place during the warm- er, drier, "Xerothermic" period (from ca 8,000 to ca 4,000 years BP; Winkler et al. 1986). Subsequently (ca 4,000 BP to present), and particularly during the 'Little Ice Age" (ca 1650 to 1850 AD, Brugam and Swain 2000), most of these earlier populations appear to have become regionally fragmented, with small, disjunct relicts continuing to persist over fairly ex- tensive areas. Many of these disjuncts seem to be associated with limestone outcrops or sand areas (see Holman and Aral 1962). The recent discovery (2002) of subtantial populations near Mill Creek in southeastern Clark County by Drew Foster and Steve Mullin of Eastern Illinois University, along with several old records in the upper Embarras and Little Wabash basins in the Effingham region, tends to substantiate the much older (1880) Wabash Co. (Mt. Carmel, USNM 12057) record between these northern relicts and the Shawnee Hills popula- tions in extreme southern Illinois. Dispersal Mode and Distributional Status— The map indicates that past dispersal has been mainly riparian (parallel to drainage lines), with populations usually occurring along adjacent upland areas with sandy or rocky (sandstone and limestone) substrates. Heated rocks probably extend daily activity 15 or more minutes in areas farther north (pers. obs.). We consider the current distributional status in Illinois as contractive in the west and essentially static in the south and east (the Clark Co. population may be expanding.). This would not support (at least regionally) a recent global warm- ing hypothesis. Population Density— Within areas of occurrence where the authors have observed animals, population density seemed quite low. One or two individuals were seen, under the best of conditions, during several observational hours in the field. However, both Smith (1961) and Phillips et al. (1999) consid- ered this lizard abundant in southern Illinois, and Foster and Mullin (see above) reported many individuals of both sexes and all age/size classes in their recent Clark County survey. Earliest Illinois Voucher— A specimen (now missing) in the U.S. National Museum of Natural History (USNM 3111) taken by Robert Kennicott from "Southern Illinois," in 1857 oreariy 1858 (cataloged on 21 July 1858), appears to be the earliest museum voucher from the state. Fossil Records in Illinois— None known. Erroneous, Questioned, and Historic Records— The following records are considered erroneous (collection or museum number, with reasons in parentheses): Cumberland Co.-Rose Hill (UIMNH 561 12-3; no Rose Hill has been found in Cumberland Co., but a Rose Hill is present in Jasper Co., the next county to the south). Most authors have cited Peters' (1942) Cumberland Co. paper as evidence of Scince- lla occurrence in that county, but Peters (1942:183) clearly stated: "Several species are known to occur in the counties immediately surrounding Cumberland, which have not been collected here yet." Peters then listed Leiolopisma unicolor (= S. lateralis) as one of those species. Wayne Co.— Sam A. Baker State Park (UIMNH 16434-5; no park with this name was found in Wayne County, Illinois; however, there is a Sam A. Baker State Park in Wayne Co. Missouri; thus, we consider this a recording error). Both Cumberland and Wayne counties have been removed from the state county list. Questioned record: W Dunlap Lake, Edwardsville (SIUE 2584); this urban habitat is considered unnatural. Historic records: The old Mount Carmel, Wabash Co. record (see above), which was not included in Phillips et al. (1999), now appears to be a viable Illinois record. Interestingly, Minton (2001) showed two old southwestern Indiana records from Gibson (no data) and Knox (USNM 10906: Wheatland, in 1881) counties. We consider this further evidence supporting the Mt. Carmel, Illinois record. Cook Co.- Aux Plaines River (= Des Plaines River), West Northfield (USNM 501 1), and West Northfield (USNM 9302). These two vouchers were credited to Robert Kennicott, and were sent to the Smithsonian Institution in the late 1850s or early 1860s. Two separate records, from the same place, sent at different times, indicate they may not have been erroneous. However, they cannot be explained September 2006 Axtell and Bryant: The Ground Skink, Scincella lateralis, in Illinois: Range and Possible Recent History without extending the present known range approximately 250 kilometers northward to the Chicago area. Three other Il- linois lizards. Cnemidophorus sexlmeatus. Eumeces fasciatus. and Ophisauriis attenuatiis, all apparently occurred in the Chicago area at some time in the past (Smith 1961 : Phillips, et al. 1999). so these Cook Co. records, although viewed with scepticism, could be valid. Schmidt and Necker (1935), and Anton (1999) both considered Kennicott's report (Kennicott 1855) of this lizard in Cook Co. erroneous. Extinction Prone Populations— The presumed popula- tions in both Mason and Menard counties are well separated from other known Illinois populations, so we consider them isolated northern disjuncts, and probably on their way toward eventual extinction, unless sizable local populations still ex- ist. Similarly, the populations in Calhoun and Pike counties, which are isolated by large rivers (the Mississippi to the west and the Illinois to the east), and the populations in Jersey and western Madison counties, which appear separated from pop- ulations farther south by several uninhabited gaps, are also in jeopardy (truncated gene flow). To the east, the presumptive populations in the Embarras and Little Wabash River basins are considered temporal disjuncts also. Records from the Big Muddy basin and two smaller streams to the west may also be relictual. but closer examination in these areas may reveal a more continuous distribution. The newly discovered Clark County population would appear quite viable if the surround- ing forested areas are as extensive as 1 : 24,000 topographic maps indicate. However, we suggest that only the extensive populations in the Shawnee Hills area of extreme southern Illinois appear large and genetically interactive enough to continue for extended periods of occupation in the state. Map Symbols (Fig. 3)— Red dots with white margins = plot- ted localities. One dot may represent one or more adjacent sites, and the diameter of each dot covers ca 4.4 km (ca 2.7 miles) of map surface. Locality Vouchers— Twelve museums and collections were canvassed for the Illinois Scincella records used herein (see list below). Seven of these (the remainder had no Illinois records) had records totaling ca 88 localities. An M preceding a locality indicates that the locality appears on the map. An N preceding a locality indicates that it has not been mapped. An asterisk (*) preceding a locality indicates that it is too general- ized for accurate mapping, and a question mark (?) indicates that the voucher locality has not been found. An X preceding a locality indicates that the record has not been mapped in the listed county, but has been mapped in an adjacent county where it is listed and marked with an M. Multiple localities less than 4.8 kilometers apart are listed, but do not appear as separate dots on the map. Coordinates of latitude and longitude (those enclosed in brackets), were estimated by the authors (as most records were traditional). This undoubtedly invites some error in site accuracy, but with the map scale used, it is probably minimal. Parentheses enclose localities not estimated. This was done so all localities could be trans- ferred digitally to the landform map. The year of collection has been added after the museum acronym. When old collec- tion sites or areas are revisited, such dates can inform future workers of occupational longevity if the organism is still pres- ent, or about when the organism disappeared if it is no longer present. Users of the voucher list are cautioned that some cited localities may be duplicates based on distances derived from different base points. Some original citations may have been slightly modified so that a population center, highway, road junction, or stream appears first; this is then followed by distances and other descriptive information. Abbreviations Used— BP = before present; ca = circa; Cr = creek; N. S. E, W = north, south, east, and west; jet = jet; km = kilometer(s); m = meter(s); mi = miles; nr = near; IL = Illinois state highways; rec. = recreation; R = river; RR = railroad; US = federal highways. LOCALITY VOUCHERS Calhoun Co. M Hardin [mapped at 39°09"25"N - 90°37"30"W, 140 m] M " ", 1 mi W [mapped at 39°09- 10"N - 90°38'20"W, 226 m] M " ", 8.1 km S- 0.5 km W bridge (38°05'10'-N-90°37-10"W, 207 m) M Meppen Catholic Church, 0.25 km N - 0.1 km W (38°59'57""N - 90°36'22"W, 160 m) UIMNH-1950 UIMNH-1950 SIUE-1983 SIUE-1983 Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes Clark Co. M T09N-R12W, sec. 5, S of Joe's Fork, Mill Cr. [mapped at 39°15'35"N - 87°44'50"W, ca 168 m] INHS 18494—2002 Clay Co. M Edgewood. 3.5 km SW on S side IL 37 nr RR [mapped at 38°53'55"N - 88°4r26"W, 165 m] INHS- 1998 Cook Co. (Historic records; have been questioned) N Aux Plaines River [= Des Plaines R], West Northfield N West Northfield USNM- 1859-60? USNM- 1859-60? Cumberland Co. (deleted from state list) X Rose Hill [mapped in Jasper Co.^ UIMNH-1942 Effingham Co. M Effingham. 4 mi NW [mapped at 39°09'36"N - 88°36'45"W, 180 m] M Hill. 4 mi N [mapped at 38°58'45"N - 88°32'36"W, 150 m] M Mason [mapped at 38°57'15"N - 88°37'30"W] INHS- 1954 INHS- 1960 INHS -1947 Gallatin Co. M Pounds Hollow Lake [mapped at 37°37'N - 1 8°16'25"W, 152 m] INHS- 1947, SIUC- 1953 Hardin Co. M M M M M M M Battery Rock, 3.8 km E Lamb [mapped at 37°31'52"N - 88°04'55"W, 137 m] Cave-in-Rock, 2 mi N [mapped at 37°29'20"N - 88°10'10"W, 168 m] ", 3.5 mi E [mapped at 37''29'35"N - 88°07' 10"W, 168 m] Kane Creek [mapped at Cane Creek, 37°32'28"N - 88°06'40"W, 158 m] Karbers Ridge [mapped at 37°34'47"N - 88°20'05"W, 184 m] Lamb, 2.5 mi E [mapped at 37''30'37"N - 88°05'30"W, 1 16 m] Rosiclair, 2 mi N - 3 mi W [mapped at 37°27'38"N - 88°24'20"W, 137 m] TCWC-1949 UIMNH-1949 INHS- 1953 UIMNH-1950 INHS- 1950 UIMNH-1950 UIMNH-1950 Jackson Co. M Campbell Lake Swamp [mapped at 37°56'27"N - 89°10'36" W, ca 113 m] M Cedar Creek, TIOS - R2W, NE 1/4, Sec 17 [mapped at 37''39'27"N - 89°20'56"W] M Etherton, 0.25 mi S, jet IL127 [mapped at 37°40'55"N - 89°19'20"W, 122 m] M Fountain Bluff [mapped at 37°42'N - 89°29'15"W] M Giant City State Park, 0.5 mi E [mapped at 37°37'17"N - 89°10'38"W, 198 m] * Kincaid Ridge M Murphysboro [mapped at 37°45'05"N - 89°20"05"W] M " ", 10 mi SW [mapped at 37°4r02"N - 89°28'45"W, 122 m] M Natural Bridge Park [mapped at Pomona Natural Bridge, 37°38'54"N - 89°20'05"W] M IL151,3miWof, nearAvaCave [mapped at 37°52'35"N - 89°32'43"W] M Swallow Rock [mapped at 37°4r30"N - 89°24'20"W] M (37°42' 17"N - 89°28"43"W) SIUC- 1940 SIUC- 1963 SIUC- 1963 UIMNH- 1954 UIMNH-1954 SIUC- 1951 INHS -1942 INHS- 1977 SIUC- 1951 SIUC -1965 UIMNH- 1948 SIUE-1969 Jasper Co. M Rose Hill [mapped on Lick Creek at 39°06'18"N - 88°09'23"W, 172 m] M " ",3miW[mappedat39°06'45'"N-88°12'55"W] INHS- 1942 INHS- 1942, UIMNH- 1948 September 2006 Axtell and Bryant: The Ground Skink, Scincella lateralis, in Illinois: Range and Possible Recent History Jefferson Co. M Mt. Vernon Reservoir, 2 mi N - 0.5 mi E [mapped at 38°19"15"N M Woodlawn [mapped at 38°20"05"N - 89°0r45"W, 140 m] °55'W] SIUC-1963 INHS-1957 Jersey Co. M Grafton, 0.7 mi N - 2.9 mi W [mapped at 38°59'15"N - 90°29"20'"W] SIUE- 1963 M " M mi Won IL 100 [mapped at 38=58'25"N-90°28'15"W] SIUE- 1963 M " ",1.1 miNonIL100(38°59'N-90°25'40"W) SIUE-1971 M Grafton Ferry, near; T6N, R13W, Sec, 12 [mapped at 38°58'05"N - 90°29'45"W] INHS- 1994 M jet Elsah Rd & River Highway, 0.8 km N - 0.75 km W (38''57'3r'N - 90°22'20"W, 168 m) SIUE- 1976 M Pere Marquette State Park, S part of Trail 19 [mapped at 38°58'25"N - 90°3r30"W, 168 m] SIUC- 1991 M (38°58'32"N - 90°30'07"W) SIUE- 1965 M (38°58'35"N - 90''28'20"W) SIUE- 1969 M (38°58'42"N-90°3r57"W) SIUE-1967 Johnson Co. M Cedar Creek, T12S - R4E, Sec 3 [mapped at 37°29'50"N - 88°45"32"W, 134 m[ M Forman [mapped at 37°20' 1 0"N - 88°54' 1 5"W, 1 22 m] X Olmsted [mapped in Pulaski Co.] M Vienna [mapped at 37°25"N - 88°54"W, 122 m] M " ", 3 mi SW [mapped at 37°22'55"N - 88°55'43"W] M " ",4miE[mappedat37°24-35"N-88°49'22"W. 135 m] UIMNH-I964 INHS- 1947, SIUC- 1960 SIUC- 1953 INHS- 1947, UIMNH- 1950 SIUC- 1964 INHS -1949 Madison Co. M (38°48'15"N - 89°56"15"W) W of Dunlap Lake, Edwardsville [questioned record] M (38°56'45"N-90°16"W) SIUE- 1963 SIUE- 1965 Mason Co. M Havana, 3.5 mi SE [mapped at40°l5"15"N - 90°0ri4"W, ca 148 m] M Sand Ridge State Forest [mapped at campground at ca 40°23'25"N - 89°52'W, 152 m] M T22N - R7W, NE 1/4, Sec 4 [mapped at 40°23'27"N - 89°53'14"W, ca 154 m] INHS- 1968 INHS- 1975 INHS- 1961 Massac Co. M jet IL 145 & IL 146, 8 mi S [mapped at 37°15'20"N - 88°40'28"W] M New Columbia [mapped at 37°18"23" - 88°45'50"W, 122 m] M Round Knob, 3 mi E [mapped at 37°16'N - 88°42'23"W, 152 m] UIMNH- 1964 INHS- 1950 UIMNH -1948 Menard Co. M Tallula [mapped at 39°56'35"N - 89°56'35"W, 183 m] INHS- 1985 Monroe Co. M Fults [mapped at 38°10'N-90°12'30"W, 128 m] UIMNH-1957 M " ",3miN[mappedat38°ir35"N-90°14'50"W, 128 m] INHS-1949 M " ", 3 mi S [mapped at 38°08'40"N - 90°10"W, 125 m] INHS-1949 M " ", Nature Preserve sign, 0.8 mi Son Bluff Rd [mapped at 38°09'23"N- 90° ir27"W, 122 m] SIUC-1991 M Valmeyer, 12 mi Son Bluff Road [mapped at 38°09'40"N - 90° ir45"W, 213 m] SIUE-1963 Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes Perry Co. M Pinckneyville [mapped at 38°04'55"N - 89°23'05"W. 128 m] INHS-1972 Pike Co. (New county record) M Pearl RR crossing. 1 . 1 km S - 3 km W (39°26"58"N - 90°39'42"W, 165 m) SIUE 2846, 47- 1982 Pope Co. M Bell Smith Springs (mapped at 37°3riO"N-88°39'29"W] SIUC-1963 M " ".State Park [mapped at BSS Rec.Area; 37°3riO"N - 88°39'29"W] SIUC-1965 M Burden Falls [mapped 37°33'50"N - 88°38'32"W] SIUC- 1960 M Dixon Springs [mapped at 37°22'50"N - 88°40'22"W] INHS- 1947 M Eddyville [mapped at 37°30'12"N - 88°34'50"W] INHS- 1948 M " ".3miEorR6E-T12S, Sec 10 [mapped at 37°29'53"N-88°32'26"W] SIUC-1971 M Golconda [mapped at 37°2r45"N - 88°29'07"W, 122 m] INHS- 1947 M Hayes Creek Canyon [mapped at 37°29'15"N-88°37'15"W] SIUC-1995 M Herod [mapped at 37°34'58"N - 88°26'08"W] INHS- 1935, SIUC- 1951 M Indian Kitchen [mapped on Lusk Creek at 37°30'39"N - 88°3r35"W, 176 m] SIUC-1964 M Widemann Forest, Dixon Springs Exper. Station [mapped at 37°26'05"N - 88°40'W] UIMNH-1963 Pulaski Co. M Olmsted [mapped at 37°10'44"N - 89°05'W] M " ", 2 mi N [mapped at 37°12'25"N - 89°04'55"W, 137 m] SIUC- 1953 INHS- 1953 Randolph Co. (New county record) M Ruma, 1 .5 mi SW [mapped near Camp Creek at 38°06'49"N - 90°00'44"W, ca 140 m] SIUE 2845 -1974 Richland Co. N No specific locality (county record without verification) Smith (1961) St. Clair Co. (New county record) M jet IL 161 & Old Lincoln Trail, 0.7 km S - 0.4 km E [mapped at 38°34'38"N - 90°02"07"W, 173 m] SIUE 2885- 1961 Union Co. M Alto Pass [mapped at 37°34'05"N - 89°18'50"W, 243 m] UIMNH- 1931 M Anna-Jonesboro State Park [mapped at 37°27'30"N - 89° 1 6' 10"W] SIUC- 1 95 1 M Jonesboro, 4 mi W [mapped on Green Creek at 37°27' 17"N - 89° 19'57"W, ca 1 14 m] UMMZ- 1947 * Pine Hills SIUC- 1957 M " ", grass behind Cabin # 1 [mapped at 37°32'28"N-89°26'15"W,ca 1 17 m] SIUC-1970 M " ".next to Otter Pond [mapped at 37°32'23"N-89°26'18"W] SIUC- 1961 M Pine Hills Road, Tl IS - R3W, Sec 33 [mapped at 37°30'50"N - 89°26'07"W] UIMNH- 1960 M " ", 1.1 roadmiEjctwithIL3[mappedat37°3r03"N-89°25'52"W, 134m] USNM-? M Wolf Lake [mapped at 37°30"20"N - 89°25'30"W, 122 m] UIMNH- 1949 M " ",2miE[mappedat37°29'45"N-89°24'10"W, 122 m] UIMNH-1954 M 37°35'06"N - 89°26'22"W, 152 m SIUE- 1974 Wabash Co. M Mount Carmel [mapped on Greathouse Creek at 38°26"23"N - 87°45'53"W, 137 m] USNM-IJ September 2006 Axtell and Bryant: The Ground Skink, Sciiwella Uiieralis. in Illinois: Range and Possible Recent History Washington Co. M Elkton (on fence post?) [mapped at 38°17"35"N - 89°32'45"W. 143 m] SIUC- 1963 Wayne Co. (deleted from state list) N Sam A. Baker State Park [erroneous record] UIMNH-1950 Williamson Co. * Big Muddy River near Herrin M Stiritz [mapped at 37''50-22"N - 88°57' 13"W. 122 m] SIUC- 1940 SIUC- 1939 No county identified N Southern Illinois N UMMZ-I857or! USNM-1857or8 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank all collectors for the many hours and years spent gathering the material listed above. Much of what they have assembled is now largely irreplaceable. To the museum and collection personnel who supplied records for this account- Richard Daniel of the University of Missouri; Chris Phil- lips and Chris Mayer of the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) and the University of Illinois Museum of Natural History (UIMNH); Robert Reynolds and Steve Gotte of the U.S. National Museum of Natural History (USNM); Greg Schneider of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ); Jeff Stewart of the Southern Illinois University Museum at Carbondale (SIUC); Kathryn Vaughn of the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection (TCWC) at Texas A & M University; Dr. Robert G. Webb, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso; and Scott Ballard, District Heritage Biologist in the Illinopis Department of Natural Resources, we extend our sincerest thanks and ap- preciation. We also thank C. Drew Foster, now at the Santa Barbara Zoological Garden in California, for information and a photograph of Scincella habitat in Clark Co.. Illinois, and Troy D. Hibbitts of the Texas Herpetologieal Society who provided the Scincella photo for Figure 1 . The Illinois landforms map is courtesy of Ray Sterner. Applied Physics Laboratory. The Johns Hopkins University. Laurel. Maryland. The SIUE Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Biological Sciences all contributed funds toward publication, and the Department of Biological Sciences provided material, space, and computer facilities, for which we are whole-heartedly grateful. Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes LITERATURE CITED Anton. T.G. 1999. Current distribution and status of amphib- ians and reptiles in Cook County, Illinois. Trans. Illinois State Acad. Sci. 92(3 &4):2 11-232. Minton. S.A.. Jr. 2001. Amphibians and reptiles of Indiana. Rev. 2nd Ed. Indiana Acad. Sci. Indianapolis, xiv + 404 pp. Mittleman, M.B. 1950. The generic status of Scincus lateralis Say, 1823. Herpetologica 6(2): 17-20. Brooks, G. 1975. Scincella laieralis. Cat. Amer. Amph. and Rept. 169.1-169.4 Peters, J.A. 1942. Reptiles and amphibians of Cumberland County, Illinois. Copeia 1942(3): 182-183. Brugam, R.B., and P. Swain 2000. Diatom indicators of peat- land development at Pogonia Pond, Minnesota, USA. The Holocene 10(4):453^64. Phillips, C.A., R.A. Brandon, and E.G. Moll. 1999. Field guide to amphibians and reptiles of Illinois. Illinois Nat. Hist Survey Manual (8), Champaign, xv -i- 282 pp. Cope, E.D. 1875. Check-list of North American Batrachia and Reptilia. Bull. U. S. Natl. Mus. (1 ). 104 pp. 1900. The crocodilians, lizards, and snakes of North America. U. S. Natl. Mus. Ann. Report for li 153-1270. Say, Thomas. 1823. /« Edwin James. Account of an expedi- tion from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains performed in the years 1819 and 1820, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, Sec'y of War: under the command of Major Stephen H. Long. H. C. Carey & I. Lea, Philadelphia, Penn. 2 Vols., i- xcviii + 1-5, 1^42 pp. + atlas. Dumeril, A.M.C., and G. Bibron 1 839. Erpetologie generale ou histoire naturelle complete des reptiles. Vol. 5, Librarie Encyclopedique de Roret, Paris, viii -i- 854 pp. Schmidt, K. P., and W.L. Necker 1935. Amphibians and reptiles of the Chicago region. Chicago Acad. Sci. Bull. 5(4): 57-77. Greer. A.E., Jr. 1974. The generic relationships of the scincid lizard genus Leiolopisma and its relatives. Australian J. Zool., Supp. Ser. 31:1-67. Holman, J.A., and H.P. Arai 1962. Illinois range extension of Lygosoma laterale (Say) and Matrix kirtlandi (Kennicott). Herpetologica 18(3):210. Jordan, D.S. 1899. A manual of the vertebrate animals of the northern United States. 8th ed. A.C. McClurg and Co., Chicago, vi -i- 397 pp. Kennicott, R. 1855. Catalogue of animals observed in Cook County, Illinois. Illinois State Ag. Soc. Trans, for 1853- 1854, 1:577-595. Smith, P. W. 1961. The amphibians and reptiles of Illinois. Illinois Nat. Hist. Survey Bull. 28, Art, 1. 298 pp. Stejneger, L., and T Barbour 1917. A check list of North American amphibians and reptiles. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, Mass. iv -i- 125 pp. White, R.M., and W.C. Jacobs 1968. Climatic atlas of the United States. U.S. Dept. of Commerce, U. S. Gov. Printing Office , Washington, D. C. 80 pp. Winkler, M.G., A.M. Swain, and J.E. Kutzbach 1986. Middle Holocene dry period in the northern midwestem United States: lake levels and pollen stratigraphy. Quaternary Re- search 25(2):235-250. Kiichler, A.W. 1964. Potential natural vegetation of the con- terminous United States. Manual to accompany the map. American Geographical Society, Spec. Pub. No. 36. Broad- way at 156th St., New York. 1 16 pp. Illinois Natural History Survey l-Building 1816 South Oak Street Champaign, Illinois 61820 • (217) 333-6880 ILLINOIS