Pseudoacontias

Pseudoacontias
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Scincidae
Subfamily:	Scincinae
Genus:	Pseudoacontias ; Bocage, 1889
Type species
	Pseudoacontias madagascariensis ; Bocage, 1889

Last updated December 18, 2025

Pseudoacontias is genus of skinks, lizards in the family Scincidae.

Geographic range

The genus Pseudoacontias is endemic to Madagascar.^[2]

Description

All species of Pseudoacontias are large, fossorial skinks, measuring at least 200 mm (7.9 in) in snout–vent length. They lack limbs or have greatly reduced limbs.^[3]^[4]

Species

The genus contains the following species:^[2]

Pseudoacontias angelorum Raxworthy & Nussbaum, 1995
Pseudoacontias madagascariensis Bocage, 1889 – giant Madagascar skink
Pseudoacontias menamainty Andreone & Greer, 2002
Pseudoacontias unicolor Sakata & Hikida, 2003

Etymology

The specific name, angelorum (genitive, masculine, plural), is in honor of twin brothers Angelien and Angeluc Razafimanantsoa who are Madagascan naturalists.^[5]

References

↑ Pseudoacontias madagascariensis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 29 April 2014.
1 2 Pseudoacontias at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database . Accessed 29 April 2014.
↑ Sakata S, Hikida T (2003). "A new fossorial scincine lizard of the genus Pseudoacontias (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) from Nosy Be, Madagascar". Amphibia-Reptilia. 24: 57–64. doi: 10.1163/156853803763806948 .
↑ Andreone F, Greer AE [in Italian] (2002). "Malagasy scincid lizards: Descriptions of nine new species, with notes on the morphology, reproduction and taxonomy of some previously described species (Reptilia, Squamata: Scincidae)". Journal of Zoology. 258 (2): 139–1622. doi:10.1017/S0952836902001280.
↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Pseudoacontias angelorum, p. 9).

Bocage JVB (1889). "Mélanges erpétologiques. I.—Sur un Scincoidien nouveau de Madagascar ". Jornal de Sciencias Mathematicas, Physicas e Naturaes, Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, Segunda Série1: 125–126. (Pseudoacontias, new genus, p. 125; P. madagascariensis, new species, pp. 125–126). (in French).

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[1] Pseudoacontias madagascariensis at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 29 April 2014.

[RDB-2] 1 2 Pseudoacontias at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database . Accessed 29 April 2014.

[3] Sakata S, Hikida T (2003). "A new fossorial scincine lizard of the genus Pseudoacontias (Reptilia: Squamata: Scincidae) from Nosy Be, Madagascar". Amphibia-Reptilia. 24: 57–64. doi: 10.1163/156853803763806948 .

[4] Andreone F, Greer AE [in Italian] (2002). "Malagasy scincid lizards: Descriptions of nine new species, with notes on the morphology, reproduction and taxonomy of some previously described species (Reptilia, Squamata: Scincidae)". Journal of Zoology. 258 (2): 139–1622. doi:10.1017/S0952836902001280.

[5] Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Pseudoacontias angelorum, p. 9).

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