''Acontias'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of limbless

skink Skinks are a type of lizard belonging to the family (biology), family Scincidae, a family in the Taxonomic rank, infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one o ...

s, the lance skinks, (

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Scincidae) in the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Acontinae.Branch 2004. 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 Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

''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'' ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org. * ''

Acontias albigularis ''Acontias albigularis'', the white-throated legless skink, is a species of lizard in the family Scincidae. It is endemic to South Africa, where it is found under flat rocks on the montane grasslands and shrublands of the Mpumalanga escarpment ...

'' Conradie, Busschau, & Edwards, 2018 – white-throated legless skink * '' Acontias aurantiacus'' ( W. Peters, 1854) – golden blind legless skink * '' Acontias bicolor'' ( Hewitt, 1929) * ''

Acontias breviceps ''Acontias breviceps'', the shorthead lance skink or shortheaded legless skink, is a species of viviparous, legless, fossorial lizards occurring along the southern and eastern sections of the Great Escarpment in South Africa. It may grow up to ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, 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 Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

1758 Events January–March * January 1 – Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus (Carl von Linné) publishes in Stockholm the first volume (''Animalia'') of the 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', the starting point of modern zoologic ...

) – 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 Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, Broadley & Bauer, 2012 *'' Acontias subtaeniatus'' (Broadley, 1968) – stripe-bellied legless skink * '' Acontias wakkerstroomensis'' Conradie, Busschau, & Edwards, 2018 – Wakkerstroom legless skink ''

Nota bene ( ; plural: ) is the Latin language, Latin phrase meaning ''note well''. In manuscripts, ''nota bene'' is abbreviated in upper-case as NB and N.B., and in lower-case as n.b. and nb; the editorial usages of ''nota bene'' and ''notate bene'' fi ...

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

Gallery

Image:Large legless skink, Acontias plumbeus, on drive.jpg, ''Acontias plumbeus'' Image:Acontias percivali.jpeg, ''Acontias percivali''

Species

Gallery

References

Further reading