Acontias
Acontias is a genus of limbless skinks, the lance skinks, (family Scincidae) in the African subfamily Acontinae.[1] Most are small animals, but the largest member of the genus is Acontias plumbeus at approximately 40 cm (16 in) snout-vent length.[1] All members of this genus are live-bearing sandswimmers, with fused eyelids. A recent review [2] moved species that were formerly placed in the genera Typhlosaurus, Acontophiops, and Microacontias into this genus, as together these form a single branch in the tree of life. This new concept of Acontias is a sister lineage to Typhlosaurus, and these two genera are the only genera within the subfamily Acontinae.[2]
| Acontias | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Acontias percivali | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Subfamily: | Acontinae |
| Genus: | Acontias Cuvier, 1817 |
| Species | |
|
See text. | |
Species
These 25 species are recognized:[3]
- Acontias albigularis Conradie, Busschau, & Edwards, 2018 – white-throated legless skink
- Acontias aurantiacus (W. Peters, 1854) – golden blind legless skink
- Acontias bicolor (Hewitt, 1929)
- Acontias breviceps Essex, 1925 – shorthead lance skink
- Acontias cregoi (Boulenger, 1903) – Cregoe's legless skink
- Acontias fitzsimonsi (Broadley, 1968) – Fitzsimons's legless skink
- Acontias gariepensis (V. FitzSimons, 1941) – Mier Kalahari legless skink
- Acontias gracilicauda Essex, 1925 – thin-tailed legless skink, slendertail lance skink
- Acontias grayi Boulenger, 1887 – Gray's dwarf legless skink
- Acontias jappi (Broadley, 1968) – Japp’s burrowing skink
- Acontias kgalagadi (Lamb, Biswas & Bauer, 2010) – Kalahari burrowing skink, Kgalagadi legless skink
- Acontias lineatus W. Peters, 1879 – striped dwarf legless skink, lined lance skink
- Acontias litoralis Broadley & Greer, 1969 – coastal dwarf legless skink
- Acontias meleagris (Linnaeus, 1758) – Cape legless skink, golden sand skink; spotted slow skink; thick-tailed blindworm, erdslang, Linnaeus's lance skink
- Acontias namaquensis Hewitt, 1938 – Namaqua legless skink, Namaqua lance skink
- Acontias occidentalis V. FitzSimons, 1941 – western burrowing skink, savanna legless skink
- Acontias orientalis Hewitt, 1938 – eastern striped blindworm, Eastern Cape legless skink
- Acontias parietalis (Broadley, 1990) – Maputaland legless skink
- Acontias percivali Loveridge, 1935 – Percival's lance skink, Teita limbless skink
- Acontias plumbeus Bianconi, 1849 – giant legless skink, giant lance skink
- Acontias richardi (Jacobsen, 1987) – Richard’s legless skink
- Acontias rieppeli (Lamb, Biswas & Bauer, 2010) – Woodbush legless skink
- Acontias schmitzi Wagner, Broadley & Bauer, 2012
- Acontias tristis F. Werner, 1910 – Namaqualand dwarf legless skink
- Acontias wakkerstroomensis Conradie, Busschau, & Edwards, 2018 – Wakkerstroom legless skink
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates the species was originally described in a genus other than Acontias.
Gallery
Acontias plumbeus
References
- Branch 2004.
- Lamb, Trip; Sayantan Biswas; Aaron M. Bauer (2010). "A phylogenetic reassessment of African fossorial skinks in the subfamily Acontinae (Squamata: Scincidae): evidence for parallelism and polyphyly". Zootaxa. 2657: 33–46.
- "Acontias ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
Further reading
- Boulenger GA (1887). Catalogue of the Lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Second Edition. Volume III. ... Scincidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xii + 575 pp. + Plates I-XL. (Genus Acontias, p. 424).
- Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised Edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Genus Acontias, p. 132).
- Cuvier G (1817). Le règne animale distribué d'après son organisation, pour servir de base a l'histoire naturelle des animaux et d'introduction a l'anatomie comparée. Tome II, contenant les reptiles, les poissons, les mollusques et les annélides. Paris: Déterville. xviii + 532 pp. (Acontias, new subgenus, p. 60). (in French).
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