Lance Skinks

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 23 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 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

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  Acontias plumbeus

References