Plestiodon multivirgatus  Plestiodon multivirgatus, commonly known as the many-lined skink, the northern many-lined skink, or the variable skink, is a medium-sized species of lizard, a member of the North American skink genus "Plestiodon" in the family Scincidae. The taxonomy of this species is somewhat unclear, even amongst researchers. Most commonly, two subspecies are recognized:  The latter is sometimes treated as a separate species "Plestiodon epipleurotus" or "Plestiodon gaigeae" (Taylor, 1935), or given as the subspecies "P. m. gaigeae". These last two scientific names are in honor of American herpetologist Helen Beulah Thompson Gaige (1890–1976) of the University of Michigan. epipleurotus" is also called the two-lined skink. The many-lined skink is a medium-sized skink reaching a maximum length from snout to vent (SVL) of about and a total length of roughly . Its body is olive to brown in color. multivirgatus" has black stripes along the body and tail, while "P. m. epipleurotus" has two white stripes with black borders. The geographic range of "P. m. multivirgatus" is limited in the north by southern South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming and extends in the south to the Arkansas River in Colorado. multivirgatus" prefers sandy soil and occurs in habitat below . epipleurotus" occurs from south-eastern Utah and southern Colorado through Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas to Chihuahua in Mexico. It lives in rocky habitat up to elevations of .