NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Shorthead Lance Skink
Acontias breviceps Essex, 1925
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Acontias breviceps, the shorthead lance skink or shortheaded legless skink, is a species of viviparous, legless, fossorial lizards occurring along the southern and eastern sections of the Great Escarpment in South Africa. It may grow up to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long.
This skink was first collected in 1925 by Robert Essex at Hogsback in the Amatola Mountains in the Eastern Cape at an elevation of some 6,000 feet (1,800 m). A disjunct second population exist in the Transvaal Drakensberg. Essex collected for the Albany Museum of Grahamstown, but a fire in 1941 destroyed most specimens and records.
Wikipedia contributors, Acontias breviceps; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:33:53.682068+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Acontias breviceps Essex, 1925
- Name authority
- Essex, 1925
- Common name
- Shorthead Lance Skink
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Reptilia
- Order
- Squamata
- Family
- Scincidae
- Genus
- Acontias
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classReptilia Laurenti, 1768
- orderSquamata Oppel, 1811
- suborderAutarchoglossa
- familyScincidae
- subfamilyAcontiinae
- genusAcontias
- speciesAcontias breviceps Essex, 1925
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Acontias. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Wood-bush Legless SkinkAcontias rieppeli (Lamb, Biswas & Bauer, 2010) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| White-throated Legless SkinkAcontias albigularis Conradie, Busschau & Edwards, 2018 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| FitzSimon's Legless SkinkAcontias fitzsimonsi (Broadley, 1968) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Wakkerstroom Legless SkinkAcontias wakkerstroomensis Conradie, Busschau & Edwards, 2018 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Stripe-bellied Legless SkinkAcontias subtaeniatus (Broadley, 1968) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Acontias bicolor (Hewitt, 1929) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cregoe's Legless SkinkAcontias cregoi (Boulenger, 1903) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mier Kalahari Legless SkinkAcontias gariepensis (Fitzsimons, 1941) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Slendertail Lance SkinkAcontias gracilicauda Essex, 1925 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Japp’s Burrowing SkinkAcontias jappi (Broadley, 1968) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Kalahari Burrowing SkinkAcontias kgalagadi (Lamb, Biswas & Bauer, 2010) | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Coastal Dwarf Legless Skink [litoralis]Acontias lineatus Peters, 1879 | ScincidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://reptile-database.reptarium.cz/species?genus=Acontias&species=breviceps Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:9H64. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.