Red List of South African Species

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

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

Has a restricted range but appears to be locally abundant and is not subject to major extrinsic threats, hence is assessed as Least Concern.

Distribution

Endemic to South Africa, occurring in the western portion of the Northern Cape (i.e. Little Namaqualand) (Broadley and Greer 1969, Branch and Maritz 2010, Bates et al. 2014) with an extent of occurrence of ca 17,237 km2.

Decline

Moderate

Population trend

Trend

No information available, but estimates are based on the approximate densities of other acontine skinks derived from field observations (A.M. Bauer 1987-2008). These suggest densities of at least 10 individuals per hectare, thus yielding relatively high overall populations where it occurs. The species is therefore inferred to be stable.

Threats

Has a restricted range and limited dispersal capabilities, but no extrinsic threats have been identified.

Uses and trade

This species is not known to be utilised in any way.

Conservation

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{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{44975368,
 author = {Branch , W.R. and Maritz, B. },
 journal = {African Herp News},
 pages = {28},
 title = {Geographical Distributions: <i>Acontias namaquensis</i> (Hewitt, 1938).},
 volume = {51},
 year = {2010}
}
,]
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