In the not-so-distant past the skin was generally viewed as a passive target for immune-mediated injury. Over the last decade, however, concepts of a previously unrecognized role for the skin have unfolded, whereby resident bone marrow-derived leukocytes (e.g. Langerhans cells and T cells) initiate and regulate the immune responses that protect it. Their combination with other immunomodulatory resident cells (e.g. keratinocytes, melanocytes, endothelial cells, fibroblasts) led to the idea that the skin may function as a self-sustaining lymphoid tissue. Although T lymphocytes or, at least, certain subpopulations thereof have the general propensity to populate epithelial tissues, there exist major species differences regarding the phenotype of intraepidermal T cells. The purpose of this review is to fill gaps in our understanding of the relationship of rodent skin T cells to T cells identified in human skin and the normal physiologic and pathologic role(s) of these cells.