Red List of South African Species

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Least Concern (LC)
Assessors: Werner Conradie Aaron Bauer
Contributors: Ranmali De Silva Neil Heideman Sarah Lewis Paul Lintott Harriet Milligan Gary Powney Jennifer Sears Oliver Wearn Penny Wilson Sally Wren Tara Zamin Josh Weeber
Facilitators: Graham Alexander Krystal Tolley
Reviewers: M.D. Hofmeyr John Measey Alex Rebelo Nicolas Telford

Rationale (Changed due to Same category and criteria)

Relatively widespread and locally abundant. Threats from afforestation are limited to parts of the range. The species is therefore assessed as Least Concern.

Distribution

Until recently, it was thought to occur in two disjunct subpopulations, one in the Mpumalanga Highveld and the other in inland parts of the Eastern Cape (Bates et al. 2014). A recent study (Busschau et al. 2017) showed these disjunct populations represent two separate species and that Acontias breviceps is restricted to the Eastern Cape Province. New museum records from Penhoekpass area near Doldrecht and Baziya mountains near Mthatha may indicate that this species is more widespread in the montane grasslands of the interior Eastern Cape Province. Not yet recorded from the Drakensberg range nor Lesotho.

Population trend

Trend

No information on population status or trends is currently available but the species is inferred to be stable

Threats

Minor threats from afforestation are limited to parts of the range.

Uses and trade

Not known to be utilized or traded in any way.

Conservation

The range coincides with some 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{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{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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