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.[1]
| Acontias meleagris | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Genus: | Acontias |
| Species: | A. meleagris |
| Binomial name | |
| Acontias meleagris | |
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
- 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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.