| Acontias | |
|---|---|
| |
| Acontias mukwando | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Family: | Scincidae |
| Subfamily: | Acontinae |
| Genus: | Acontias Cuvier, 1817 |
| Species | |
|
See text. | |
Acontias is a genus of limbless skinks, the lance skinks, (family Scincidae) in the African subfamily Acontinae.[1] Most are small animals, but the largest member of the genus is Acontias plumbeus at approximately 40 cm (16 in) snout-vent length.[1] All members of this genus are live-bearing sandswimmers, with fused eyelids. A recent review [2] 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, and these two genera are the only genera within the subfamily Acontinae.[2]
- ^ a b Branch 2004.
- ^ a b Lamb, Trip; Sayantan Biswas; Aaron M. Bauer [in French] (2010). "A phylogenetic reassessment of African fossorial skinks in the subfamily Acontinae (Squamata: Scincidae): evidence for parallelism and polyphyly". Zootaxa. 2657: 33–46. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2657.1.3.