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Gronovi's dwarf burrowing skink

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(Redirected from Scelotes gronovii) Species of lizard

Gronovi's dwarf burrowing skink
Conservation status

Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Family: Scincidae
Genus: Scelotes
Species: S. gronovii
Binomial name
Scelotes gronovii
(Daudin, 1802)
Synonyms
  • Seps gronovii
    Daudin, 1802
  • Scelotes gronovii
    — Brygoo, 1985

Gronovi's dwarf burrowing skink (Scelotes gronovii) is a species of skink, a lizard in the family Scincidae. The species is endemic to South Africa.

Etymology

Both the specific name, gronovii, and the common name are in honour of Dutch naturalist Laurens Theodorus Gronovius.

Description

S. gronovii has no front legs, and each back leg has only one toe. The snout-to-vent length (SVL) of adults is usually 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in), and the maximum recorded SVL is 7 cm (2.8 in).

Back legs with one toe.

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of S. gronovii is sparse sandy shrubland in the southwestern coastal margins of the Western Cape (including Dassen Island), at altitudes below 100 m (330 ft).

Behaviour

S. gronovii is terrestrial and fossorial.

Reproduction

S. gronovii is ovoviviparous. A litter consists of one or two newborns, each of which has a total length (including tail) of 4–5 cm (1.6–2.0 in).

References

  1. ^ Conradie, W.; Bauer, A.M.; Alexander, G.J.; Pietersen, D.; Tolley, K.A.; Weeber, J (2022). "Scelotes gronovii ". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T19955A197401697. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  2. ^ Species Scelotes gronovii at The Reptile Database www.reptile-database.org.
  3. 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. (Scelotes gronovii, p. 109).
  4. ^ Branch (2004).

Further reading

  • Branch, Bill (2004). Field Guide to Snakes and other Reptiles of Southern Africa. Third Revised edition, Second Impression. Sanibel Island, Florida: Ralph Curtis Books. 399 pp. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. (Scelotes gronovii, p. 142 + Plate 47).
  • Daudin FM (1802). Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière des Reptiles; Ouvrage faisant suite à l'Histoire Naturelle générale et particulière, composée par Leclerc de Buffon; et rédigée par C.S. Sonnini, membre de plusiers sociétés savantes. Tome quatrième. Paris: F. Dufart. 397 pp. (Seps gronovii, pp. 354–358). (in French and Latin).
  • Heideman, Neil J.L.; Mulcahy, Daniel G.; Sites, Jack W. Jr.; Hendricks, Martin G.J.; Daniels, Savel R. (2011). "Cryptic diversity and morphological convergence in threatened species of fossorial skinks in the genus Scelotes (Squamata: Scincidae) from the Western Cape Coast of South Africa: Implications forspecies boundaries, digit reduction and conservation". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 61 (3): 823–833.

External links


Taxon identifiers
Scelotes gronovii


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