Typhlacontias brevipes

FitzSimons' burrowing skink
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Typhlacontias
Species: T. brevipes
Binomial name
Typhlacontias brevipes
FitzSimons, 1938

The FitzSimons' burrowing skink (Typhlacontias brevipes) is a skink species is found in the Namib Desert near Swakopmund. It burrows in soft dune sands under leaf litter[1] where it "swims" just below the surface of the loose sand. They are active at night and in the cooler hours of the day when they forage for small insects like ants, termites, antlions and beetles.[2]

Other Names

The species is named from the Latin words “brevis, -e” = short and “pes, pedis” = foot.

Description

These slender striped skinks have flattened snouts, small eyes with no eyelids and no external ear openings. The hindlimb rudiments visible on either side of cloaca, and a blue-grey stiped tail.

The body scales are smooth and overlap. Females are viviparous.[3]

References

  1. "Typhlacontias brevipes". Harvard University. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  2. "FitzSimon's burrowing skink". Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  3. "FitzSimon's burrowing skink". Retrieved 13 November 2014.

External links

Photographs available at:


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