Acontias fitzsimonsi (BROADLEY, 1968)

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Higher Taxa	Scincidae, Acontiinae (Acontidae), Scincoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: FitzSimon's Legless Skink
Synonym	Typhlosaurus aurantiacus fitzsimonsi BROADLEY 1968: 11 Typhlosaurus aurantiacus fitzsimonsi — PIENAAR 1978 Acontias aurantiacus fitzsimonsi — LAMB et al. 2010 Acontias fitzsimonsi — BATES et al. 2014: 239 Acontias fitzsimonsi — PIETERSEN et al. 2018 Acontias fitzsimonsi — ZHAO et al. 2023 Acontias fitzsimonsi — STANDER 2023: 199
Distribution	Republic of South Africa Type locality: Niandu Bush, Wambia Sandveld, Kruger National Park, Transvaal.
Reproduction	ovoviviparous
Types	Holotype. DNMNH (= TM) 28946. Collected by W. D. Haacke and K. N. P. biologists, September 1963
Diagnosis	Diagnosis: A race of T. aurantiacus distinguished from the typical form by fusion of (a) anterior supraciliary with preocular; (b) posterior supraciliary with ocular; (c) posterior subocular with postocular; (d) upper temporal with anterior nuchal (Broadley 1968). Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 722 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Limb morphology: Limbless.
Etymology	Named after Vivian F. M. Fitzsimons (1901-1975), South African herpetologist. See also Haacke 1975.
References	Bates, M.F.; Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M.; Burger, M., Marais, J.; Alexander, G.J. & de Villliers, M.S. (eds.) 2014. Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, 512 pp. Bauer, A.M.; Günther,R. & Klipfel,M. 1995. The herpetological contributions of Wilhelm C.H. Peters (1815-1883). SSAR Facsimile Reprints in Herpetology, 714 pp. Broadley D G 1990. The herpetofaunas of the islands off the coast of south Mocambique. Arnoldia Zimbabwe 9 (35): 469-493 Broadley, D.G. 1968. A review of the African genus Typhlosaurus Wiegmann (Sauria: Scincidae). Arnoldia (Rhodesia) 3 (36): 1-20 Haacke, W. D. 1975. Obituaries on African Herpetologists- Fitzsimons, V. F. M. 1901 - 1975. J. Herp. Assoc. Africa (14): 33-35 - get paper here Jacobsen, Niels H.G.; Errol W. Pietersen & Darren W. Pietersen 2010. A preliminary herpetological survey of the Vilanculos Coastal Wildlife Sanctuary on the San Sebastian Peninsula, Vilankulo, Mozambique. Herpetology Notes 3: 181-193 Lamb, T.; Biswas, S. & Bauer, A.M. 2010. A phylogenetic reassessment of African fossorial skinks in the subfamily Acontinae (Squamata: Scincidae): evidence for parallelism and polyphyly. Zootaxa 2657: 33–46 - get paper here Peters,W.C.H. 1854. Diagnosen neuer Batrachier, welche zusammen mit der früher (24. Juli und 17. August) gegebenen Übersicht der Schlangen und Eidechsen mitgetheilt werden. Ber. Bekanntmach. Geeignet. Verhandl. Königl.-Preuss. Akad. Wiss. Berlin 1854: 614-628 Pienaar, Uys de Villiers 1978. The Reptile Fauna of the Kruger National Park. Pretoria: National Parks Board of South Africa, i-vii, 222 S. PIETERSEN, DARREN W.; CLARKE H. SCHOLTZ & ARMANDA D.S. BASTOS 2018. Multi-locus phylogeny of southern African Acontias aurantiacus (Peters) subspecies (Scincidae: Acontinae) confirms the presence of three genetically, geographically and morphologically discrete taxa. Zootaxa 4442 (3): 427–440 - get paper here Stander, R.I. 2023. The Reptiles of the Limpopo Province and Kruger National Park. Herp Nomad, Polokwane, South Africa, 367 pp. - get paper here Tolley, K.A., Conradie, W., Pietersen, D.W., Weeber, J., Burger, M. & Alexander, G.J. (eds) 2023. Conservation status of the reptiles of South Africa, Eswatini and Lesotho. Suricata 10. South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria - get paper here Wagner, Philipp; Donald G. Broadley, and Aaron M. Bauer 2012. A New Acontine Skink from Zambia (Scincidae: Acontias Cuvier, 1817). Journal of Herpetology 46 (4): 494-502. - get paper here Wyk, Kurt M van; Bryan Maritz & Bruce W Clegg 2025. Distribution and status of reptile species in south-eastern Zimbabwe. African Journal of Herpetology, 74:2, 210-270, - get paper here Zhao, Z., Conradie, W., Pietersen, D.W., Jordaan, A., Nicolau, G., Edwards, S., Riekert, S., Heideman, N. 2023. Diversification of the African legless skinks in the subfamily Acontinae (Family Scincidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List National Center for Biotechnology Information Google images

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