Acontias
Genus of lizards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
Species
These 24 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 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 meleagris (Linnaeus, 1758) – Cape legless skink, golden sand skink; spotted slow skink; thick-tailed blindworm, erdslang, Linnaeus's lance skink
- Acontias mukwando Marques, Parrinha, Tiutenko, Lopes-Lima, Bauer & Ceríaco, 2023 – Serra da Neve 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 subtaeniatus (Broadley, 1968) – stripe-bellied 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
Acontias percivali
