Acontias meleagris

Short description: Species of lizard

Acontias meleagris

File:Acontias meleagris - 1700-1880 - Print - Iconographia Zoologica - Special Collections University of Amsterdam - UBA01 IZ12600063.tif

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]

Scientific classification
Domain:  | Eukaryota
Kingdom:  | Animalia
Phylum:  | Chordata
Class:  | Reptilia
Order:  | Squamata
Family:  | Scincidae
Genus:  | Acontias
Species:  |

A. meleagris

Binomial name
Acontias meleagris

(Linnaeus, 1758)

Acontias meleagris, the Cape legless skink, is a species of skink found in the southern Cape of South Africa . It has no limbs, like most members of the subfamily Acontinae.[2]

Its slender, tube-shaped body is golden-brown with tiny black spots. These spots fuse into longitudinal stripes in some specimens. It is usually found burrowing in dry sand as well as beneath boulders, dead trees and other detritus. It gives birth to two to four young in summer.

## References

1. ↑ Conradie, W. & Bauer, A.M. (2018). Acontias meleagris. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T44974868A115668762.en
2. ↑ Savel R. Daniels; Neil J. L. Heideman; Martin G. J. Hendricks; Mphalile E. Mokone; Keith A. Crandall (2005). "Unraveling evolutionary lineages in the limbless fossorial skink genus Acontias (Sauria: Scincidae): are subspecies equivalent systematic units?". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 34 (3): 645–654. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.11.011. PMID 15683935.

## Further reading

* Heideman, N. J. L. (2008). "Sexual dimorphism in the African legless skink subfamily Acontiinae (Reptilia: Scincidae)". African Zoology 43 (2): 192–201. doi:10.3377/1562-7020-43.2.192.
* Hewitt, J. (1938). "Description of new forms of the genus Acontias". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 26: 39–48. doi:10.1080/00359193809519768.

Wikidata ☰ Q2713691 entry

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