Acontias

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Acontias is a genus of limbless skinks, the lance skinks, (family Scincidae) in the African subfamily Acontinae.<ref name="Branch">Branch 2004.</ref> Most are small animals, but the largest member of the genus is Acontias plumbeus at approximately Template:Convert snout-vent length.<ref name="Branch"/> All members of this genus are live-bearing sandswimmers, with fused eyelids. A recent review <ref name="Lamb 2010">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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.<ref name="Lamb 2010" />

Species

These 24 species are recognized:<ref>"Acontias ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.</ref>

• 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

• Large legless skink, Acontias plumbeus, on drive.jpg

  Acontias plumbeus

• Acontias percivali.jpeg

  Acontias percivali

References

<references />

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. Template:ISBN. (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).