Acontias meleagris
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Acontias meleagris | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Reptilia |
Order: | Squamata |
Family: | Scincidae |
Genus: | Acontias |
Species: | A. meleagris
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Binomial name | |
Acontias meleagris |
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
- ^ 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
- ^ 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.; et al. (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.
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Categories:
- Articles with short description
- Short description with empty Wikidata description
- IUCN Red List least concern species
- Articles with 'species' microformats
- Taxonbars desynced from Wikidata
- Taxonbar pages requiring a Wikidata item
- Taxonbars with invalid from parameters
- Taxonbars without secondary Wikidata taxon IDs
- Acontias
- Skinks of Africa
- Endemic reptiles of South Africa
- Fynbos
- Natural history of Cape Town
- Reptiles described in 1758
- Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus