Kingdom Animalia Family Scincidae Genus Typhlacontias Order Scaled reptiles | Class Reptilia Phylum Chordata Rank Species | |
Similar Gardiner's burrowing skink, Scaled reptiles, Trachylepis punctatissima, Sepsina, Feylinia | ||
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 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.
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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.
References
Typhlacontias brevipes Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA