Red List of South African Species

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Least Concern (LC)
Assessors: Werner Conradie Aaron Bauer
Contributors: Josh Weeber
Facilitators: Graham Alexander Krystal Tolley
Reviewers: John Measey Alex Rebelo Nicolas Telford

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

Widespread and common and not under significant threat, hence assessed as Least Concern.

Distribution

Endemic to South Africa, occurring throughout most of the western parts of the Western Cape (Bates et al. 2014, Engelbrecht et al. 2013) with an extent of occurrence of ca 64,439 km2. Records from eastern parts of the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape are now referred to Acontias orientalis (Engelbrecht et al. 2014). Contact zones of the two forms east and west of the Breede River Valley needs to be explored to determine species boundaries. A possible record from De Aar in the southeastern Northern Cape Province needs to be confirmed.

Population trend

Trend

The population is inferred to be stable.

Threats

There are no major threats to this species.

Uses and trade

Not known to be utilized or traded in any way.

Conservation

The range coincides with a number of protected areas. No conservation actions are recommended.

References 

[@electronic{181632,
 address = {www.iucnredlist.org},
 author = {IUCN},
 title = {The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2018-2},
 year = {2018}
}
,@book{612,
 address = {Pretoria},
 author = {Bates, M.F., Branch, W.R., Bauer, A.M., Burger, M., Marais, J., Alexander, G.J. and de Villiers, M.S.},
 publisher = {Suricata 1. South African National Biodiversity Institute},
 title = {Atlas and Red List of the Reptiles of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland},
 year = {2014}
}
,@book{2817,
 address = {Cape Town},
 author = {Branch, W.R.},
 publisher = {Struik Publishers},
 title = {Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Edition},
 year = {1998}
}
,@article{41230,
 author = {Lamb, T., Biswas, S. and Bauer, A.M.},
 journal = {Zootaxa},
 pages = {33--46},
 title = {A phylogenetic reassessment of African fossorial skinks in the subfamily Acontinae (Squamata: Scincidae): evidence for parallelism and polyphyly},
 volume = {2657},
 year = {2010}
}
,@article{41230,
 author = {Daniels, S.R., Heideman, N., Hendricks, M. and Wilson, B.},
 journal = {Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution},
 pages = {315--323},
 title = {A molecular phylogeny for the South African limbless lizard taxa of the subfamily Acontinae (Sauria: Scincidae) with special emphasis on relationships within <i>Acontias</i>},
 volume = {24},
 year = {2002}
}
,@article{41230,
 author = {Daniels, S.R., Heideman, N.J.L., Hendricks, M.G.J. and Crandall, K.A.},
 journal = {Zoologica Scripta},
 number = {4},
 pages = {353--362},
 title = {Taxonomic subdivisions within the fossorial skink subfamily Acontinae (Squamata: Scincidae) reconsidered: a multilocus perspective},
 volume = {35},
 year = {2006}
}
,@article{44974254,
 author = {Broadley, D.G. and Greer, A.E.},
 journal = {Arnoldia (Rhodesia)},
 pages = {1--27},
 title = {A revision of the genus <i>Acontias</i> Cuvier (Sauria: Scincidae)},
 volume = {4},
 year = {1969}
}
,@article{44974868,
 author = {Daniels, S.R., Heideman, N., Hendricks, M.G.J., Mokone, M.E. and Crandall, K.A.},
 journal = {Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution},
 pages = {645--654},
 title = {Unraveling evolutionary lineages in the limbless fossorial skink genus <i>Acontias</i>: are subspecies equivalent systematic units?},
 volume = {34},
 year = {2005}
}
,@article{44974868,
 author = {Daniels, S.R., Heideman, N.J.L. and Hendricks, M.G.J.},
 journal = {Zoologica Scripta},
 number = {5},
 pages = {449--463},
 title = {Examination of evolutionary relationships in the Cape fossorial skink species complex (Acontinae: <i>Acontias meleagris meleagris</i>) reveals the presence of five cryptic lineages},
 volume = {38},
 year = {2009}
}
,@article{44974868,
 author = {Engelbrecht, H.M., Van Niekerk, A., Heideman, N.J.L. and Daniels, S.R},
 journal = {Journal of Biogeography },
 pages = {492--506},
 title = {Tracking the impact of Pliocene/Pleistocene sea level and climatic oscillations on the cladogenesis of the Cape legless skink, <i>Acontias meleagris</i> species complex, in South Africa.},
 volume = {40},
 year = {2013}
}
,]
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