Acontias lineatus PETERS, 1879
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Acontias lineatus
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| Higher Taxa | Scincidae, Acontiinae (Acontidae), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Striped Dwarf Legless Skink, Lined Lance Skink E: Coastal Dwarf Legless Skink [litoralis] E: Namaqualand Dwarf Legless Skink [tristis] E: Gray’s Dwarf Legless Skink [grayi] |
| Synonym | Acontias lineatus PETERS 1879: 774 Acontias lineatus — WERNER 1910: 351 Acontias lineatus — HEWITT 1937: 46 Acontias lineatus orangensis HEWITT 1938: 47 Acontias lineatus — BAUER et al. 1995: 60 Acontias lineatus — DANIELS et al. 2005 Microacontias lineatus lineatus — DANIELS et al. 2006 Acontias lineatus — LAMB et al. 2010 Microacontias lineatus — PYRON & BURBRINK 2013 Acontias lineatus — BATES et al. 2014: 243 Acontias lineatus — ZHAO et al. 2023 Acontias litoralis BROADLEY & GREER 1969: 25 Acontias lineatus BOULENGER 1905: 254 (part.) Acontias litoralis — WHITING et al. 2003 Microacontias litoralis — DANIELS et al. 2006 Acontias litoralis — LAMB et al. 2010 Acontias lineatus var. tristis WERNER 1910: 352 Acontias lineatus var. tristis — BROADLEY & GREER 1969: 24 Acontias lineatus tristis — DANIELS et al. 2002 Microacontias lineatus tristis — DANIELS et al. 2006 Acontias tristis — LAMB et al. 2010 Acontias lineatus grayi BOULENGER 1887 Acontias grayi BOULENGER 1887: 428 Acontias lineatus grayi — BROADLEY & GREER 1969: 24 Microacontias lineatus grayi — DANIELS et al. 2006 Acontias grayi — LAMB et al. 2010 Acontias grayi — BATES et al. 2014: 241 |
| Distribution | Republic of South Africa (W/N Cape, into Little and Great Namaqualand), S Namibia Type locality: “Hantam (Südafrika)” [= Northern Cape Province, South Africa]. litoralis: Republic of South Africa (W Cape coastal strip from Daberas, south to Elandsbaai); Type locality: “5 miles east of Port Nolloth” tristis: Republic of South Africa (Northern Cape Province); Type locality: Steinkopf, Little Namaqualand. grayi: Republic of South Africa (Western Cape); Type locality: Cape of Good Hope. |
| Reproduction | ovovivparous |
| Types | Syntypes: ZMB 6714 (5 specimens) Lectotype: PEM R4440 (formerly AMG 2210) [orangensis] Holotype: DNMNH (= TM) 18002; paratypes: TM, UM [litoralis] Holotype: ZMB (not identified, but given as Schultze number 642 by Werner), Steinkopf, collected L. Schultze, vi.1904. Not listed by Bauer et al. (2003), but the types for the other species described in the same paper are lodged in ZMB [tristis] Holotype: BMNH XIX.1.a [grayi] |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis (Characterization) of the (sub-) genus Microacontias: Small slender bodied, with a snout vent length (SVL) ranging from 119 mm to 148 mm, tail lattened below, transparent lower eyelid, the enlarged flat rostrum, four to five upper labials, midbody scale rows 12–14. Restricted to the Succulent and Nama Karoo biome along the South African west coast [from DANIELS et al. 2006]. |
| Comment | Limb morphology: Limbless. Type species: Acontias lineatus is the type species of the genus Microacontias DANIELS et al. 2006. However, Microacontias has been synonymized with Acontias by LAMB et al. 2010. Synonymy: Acontias lineatus grayi BOULENGER 1887 has been treated as a valid species, A. grayi by some recent authors. However, Zhao et al. 2023 suggested to synonymized A. grayi, A. litoralis, and A. tristis with A. lineatus. Fitzsimons 1943: 251 also listed tristis as a synonym of Acontias lineatus lineatus. NCBI taxonID: 156903 [litoralis] NCBI taxonID: 357125 [tristis] |
| Etymology | Named after Latin “linea”, meaning stripe or line. A. litoralis was named after the Latin noun litus, litoris, meaning "shore", referring to the habitat of the species. |
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