For other uses, see Acontias (disambiguation)

Acontias (disambiguation)

Acontias may refer to:* Acontias, a.k.a. lance skinks, a genus of limbless skinks found in Africa.* A taxonomic synonym for Agkistrodon, a genus of venomous pitvipers found in North America from the United States south to northern Costa Rica....

.

Acontias, the lance skinks, is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of limbless skink

Skink

Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...

s (family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Scincidae) in the African subfamily Acontinae. Most are small animals, but the largest member of the genus is Acontias plumbeus at approximately 40 cm. All members of this genus are live-bearing, sandswimmers with fused eyelids. A recent review moved species that were formerly placed in the genera 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

Typhlosaurus

Typhlosaurus is one of a number of genera of limbless lizards in the skink family . This group was recently revised with most species formerly attributed to Typhlosaurus now placed in Acontias. The current definition of Typhlosaurus includes five attenuate body legless lizards from southwestern...

and these are the only genera within the subfamily Acontinae.

Species

• Acontias aurantiacus
• Acontias bicolor
• Acontias breviceps
  Acontias breviceps
  The Shorthead Lance Skink is a species of skink.These skinks can grow up to 10 cm long, and do not have legs. They are brownish pink, and are difficult to distinguish from earthworms. They eat small insects, and even ants, unlike almost all other lizards. The Shorthead Lance Skink digs deep...
  
  , Shorthead Lance Skink
• Acontias cregoi
• Acontias gariepensis
• Acontias gracilicauda
  Acontias gracilicauda
  Acontias gracilicauda, the Slendertail Lance Skink, is a species of skink found in the Republic of South Africa. Specifically, its range is Little Namaqualand, E. Cape and S. Transvaal. It has no limbs, like most members of the subfamily Acontinae....
  
  
• Acontias jappi
• Acontias kgalagadi
• Acontias lineatus
• Acontias litoralis
• Acontias meleagris
  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....
  
  , Cape Legless Skink
• Acontias namaquensis
• Acontias orientalis
• Acontias percivali
  Acontias percivali
  Acontias percivali, also known as Percival's Legless Lizard, Tanzanian Legless Lizard, and Percival's Lance Skink, is a small, legless species of lizard in the family Scincidae, collectively known as "skinks"....
  
  , Percival's Lance Skink
• Acontias plumbeus
• Acontias poecilus
• Acontias richardi
• Acontias rieppeli
• Acontias tristis