Acontias

Acontias is a genus of limbless skinks, the lance skinks, (family Scincidae) in the African subfamily Acontinae. Most are small animals, but the largest member of the genus is Acontias plumbeus at approximately snout-vent length. All members of this genus are live-bearing sandswimmers, with fused eyelids. A recent review 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.

Species

These 24 species are recognized:

• Acontias albigularis <small>Conradie, Busschau, & Edwards, 2018</small> – white-throated legless skink
• Acontias aurantiacus <small>(W. Peters, 1854)</small> – golden blind legless skink
• Acontias bicolor <small>(Hewitt, 1929)</small>
• Acontias breviceps <small>Essex, 1925</small> – shorthead lance skink
• Acontias cregoi <small>(Boulenger, 1903)</small> – Cregoe's legless skink
• Acontias fitzsimonsi <small>(Broadley, 1968)</small> – Fitzsimons's legless skink
• Acontias gariepensis <small>(V. FitzSimons, 1941)</small> – Mier Kalahari legless skink
• Acontias gracilicauda <small>Essex, 1925</small> – thin-tailed legless skink, slendertail lance skink
• Acontias jappi <small>(, 1968)</small> – Japp’s burrowing skink
• Acontias kgalagadi <small>(Lamb, Biswas & , 2010)</small> – Kalahari burrowing skink, Kgalagadi legless skink
• Acontias lineatus <small>W. Peters, 1879</small> – striped dwarf legless skink, lined lance skink
• Acontias meleagris <small>(Linnaeus, 1758)</small> – Cape legless skink, golden sand skink; spotted slow skink; thick-tailed blindworm, erdslang, Linnaeus's lance skink
• Acontias mukwando <small>Marques, Parrinha, Tiutenko, Lopes-Lima, Bauer & Ceríaco, 2023</small> – Serra da Neve lance-skink
• Acontias namaquensis <small>Hewitt, 1938</small> – Namaqua legless skink, Namaqua lance skink
• Acontias occidentalis <small>V. FitzSimons, 1941</small> – western burrowing skink, savanna legless skink
• Acontias orientalis <small>Hewitt, 1938</small> – eastern striped blindworm, Eastern Cape legless skink
• Acontias parietalis <small>(Broadley, 1990)</small> – Maputaland legless skink
• Acontias percivali <small>Loveridge, 1935</small> – Percival's lance skink, Teita limbless skink
• Acontias plumbeus <small>Bianconi, 1849</small> – giant legless skink, giant lance skink
• Acontias richardi <small>(Jacobsen, 1987)</small> – Richard’s legless skink
• Acontias rieppeli <small>(Lamb, Biswas & Bauer, 2010)</small> – Woodbush legless skink
• Acontias schmitzi <small>Wagner, Broadley & Bauer, 2012</small>
• Acontias subtaeniatus <small>(Broadley, 1968)</small> – stripe-bellied legless skink
• Acontias wakkerstroomensis <small>Conradie, Busschau, & Edwards, 2018</small> – Wakkerstroom legless skink

Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates the species was originally described in a genus other than Acontias.

Gallery

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.&nbsp;424).
• (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised Edition, Second impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. . (Genus Acontias, p.&nbsp;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.&nbsp;60). (in French).