Red List of South African Species

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

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

A widespread and common species, assessed as Least Concern.

Distribution

Endemic to South Africa, occurring in North-West Province, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State, Eastern Cape and western KwaZulu-Natal (Broadley and Greer 1969, Bates et al. 2014) with an extent of occurrence of 434,591 km2. A single record exists for western Lesotho. The two somewhat isolated localities recorded from the Northern Cape in Bates et al. (2014), have been transferred to A. occidentalis fide Buscchau et al. (2017). A possible record from the Swartberg Pass in the Western Cape is referable to Acontias meleagris group (W. Conradie pers. obs. June 2017).

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. Second 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{44975977,
 author = {Busschau, T., Conradie, W., Jordaan, A. and Daniels, S.R.},
 journal = {Zoology},
 pages = {72–82},
 title = {Unmasking evolutionary diversity among two closely related South African legless skink species (Acontinae: <i>Acontias</i>) using molecular data.},
 volume = {121},
 year = {2017}
}
,]
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