Pseudoacontias

Pseudoacontias is genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae.

Pseudoacontias
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Subfamily: Scincinae
Genus: Pseudoacontias
Bocage, 1889
Type species
Pseudoacontias madagascariensis
Bocage, 1889[1]

Geographic range

The genus Pseudoacontias is endemic to Madagascar.[2]

Description

All species of Pseudoacontias are large, fossorial skinks, measuring at least 200 mm (7.9 in) in snout–vent length. They lack limbs or have greatly reduced limbs.[3][4]

Species

The genus contains the following species:[2]

  • Pseudoacontias angelorum Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 1995
  • Pseudoacontias madagascariensis Bocage, 1889
  • Pseudoacontias menamainty Andreone & Greer, 2002
  • Pseudoacontias unicolor Sakata & Hikida, 2003

Etymology

The specific name, angelorum (genitive, masculine, plural), is in honor of twin brothers Angelien and Angeluc Razafimanantsoa who are Madagascan naturalists.[5]

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References
  1. Pseudoacontias madagascariensis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 29 April 2014.
  2. Pseudoacontias at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 29 April 2014.
  3. Sakata S, Hikida T (2003). "A new fossorial scincine lizard of the genus Pseudoacontias (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) from Nosy Be, Madagascar". Amphibia-Reptilia. 24: 57–64. doi:10.1163/156853803763806948.
  4. Andreone F, Greer AE (2002). "Malagasy scincid lizards: Descriptions of nine new species, with notes on the morphology, reproduction and taxonomy of some previously described species (Reptilia, Squamata: Scincidae)". Journal of Zoology. 258 (2): 139–1622. doi:10.1017/S0952836902001280.
  5. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Pseudoacontias angelorum, p. 9).

Further reading
  • Bocage JVB (1889). "Mélanges erpétologiques. I.—Sur un Scincoidien nouveau de Madagascar ". Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, Segunda Série 1: 125–126. (Pseudoacontias, new genus, p. 125; P. madagascariensis, new species, pp. 125–126). (in French).


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