First described in 1845 on the basis of a single specimen, it may be the same as the Noronha skink (T. atlantica) from Fernando de Noronha, off northeastern Brazil.
•
Writing in 1946, H. Travassos considered Tschudi's punctata to be identical to the Noronha skink (then known as Mabuya punctata), a species otherwise known only from Fernando de Noronha, a small archipelago off northeastern Brazil.