Gronovi's dwarf burrowing skink
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[2]
  • 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.[1]

Etymology

Both the specific name, gronovii, and the common name are in honor of Dutch naturalist Laurens Theodorus Gronovius.[3]

Description

S. gronovii has no front legs, and each back leg has only one toe.[2] 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).[4]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of S. gronovii is sparse sandy shrubland, at altitudes below 100 m (330 ft).[1]

Behavior

S. gronovii is terrestrial and fossorial.[1]

Reproduction

S. gronovii is ovoviviparous.[2] 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).[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 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.



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