Acontias schmitzi Wagner, Broadley and Bauer, 2012

Pietersen, Darren W., Pietersen, Errol W. & Conradie, Werner, 2017, Preliminary herpetological survey of Ngonye Falls and surrounding regions in south-western Zambia, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation (e 148) 11 (1), pp. 24-43 : 33

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.13226803

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0389D162-7557-8B39-FF22-A375FCA6FD29

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Acontias schmitzi Wagner, Broadley and Bauer, 2012
status

 

Acontias schmitzi Wagner, Broadley and Bauer, 2012 View in CoL

Schmitz’s Legless Skink

Material: PEM R 22015

A single specimen was collected on the east bank of the Zambezi River, opposite Ngonye Falls ( Fig. 3d View Fig ). It was found under a large log in deep sand in Miombo ( Brachystegia spp. ) woodland. Head scalation conforms to the type specimen. The new specimen measures 138 mm snout-vent length and 21 mm tail length, has 14 midbody scale rows, 178 ventrals and 26 subcaudals. Color in life is light orange ventrally and blue-grey dorsally, with the anterior two-thirds of the tail darkly pigmented ventrally. This is only the second record of this species and the most southerly locality. The holotype was collected in the Kataba Reserve, south of Mongu, Western Province, Zambia (15°23’00.9”S, 23°23’43.7”E; Wagner et al. 2012a), and this record is 140 km south of the type locality. Both records are on the eastern side of the Zambezi River in deep Kalahari sands. Based on morphological features, Wagner et al. (2012a) place A. schmitzi in a clade with A. jappi . Considering their distribution, it is expected that these two species are most probably sister taxa, and that the Zambezi River acts as a barrier to dispersal, thus facilitating their independent evolution and parapatric distribution. This species is endemic to Zambia.

PEM

Port Elizabeth Museum

R

Departamento de Geologia, Universidad de Chile

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Squamata

Family

Scincidae

Genus

Acontias

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