Skinks are lizards belonging to the family 'Scincidae' and the 'infraorder Scincomorpha'. With more than 1,500 described species, the Scincidae are one of the most diverse families of lizards.

Skinks look like true lizards, but most species have no pronounced neck, and their legs are relatively small; several genera (e.g., 'Typhlosaurus') have no limbs at all. Other genera, such as 'Neoseps', have reduced limbs and with fewer than five toes (digits) on each foot.

Most species of skinks have long, tapering tails they can shed if predators grab onto them. Such species generally can regenerate the lost part of a tail, though imperfectly. Species with stumpy tails have no special regenerative abilities.

Some species of skinks are quite small; 'Scincella lateralis' typically ranges from 7.5 to 14.5 cm (3.0 to 5.7 in), more than half of which is the tail. Most skinks, though, are medium-sized, with snout-to-vent lengths around 12 cm (4.7 in), although some grow larger; the Solomon Islands skink ('Corucia zebrata') is the largest known extant species and may attain a snout-to-vent length of some 35 cm (14 in).

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