About
Pseudoacontias menamainty is an incredibly rare species and is only known from one specimen from which it was described!
Pseudoacontias menamainty is a species of limbless skink. They are missing hind limbs and their forelimbs are reduced to button-like scales. They also do not have visible ear openings.
This species is part of the Scincidae family of skinks which diverged from all other families around 80 million years ago, about the time that humans and slow lorises shared a common ancestor.
As this species has been so elusive, there are fears that it may have even become extinct. It has been impacted by logging for charcoal and the conversion of its habitat to agricultural lands. Extensive slash and burn agriculture is practiced in the range of this species.
Pseudoacontias menamainty occurs on the Sahamalaza Peninsula, which is a protected area. Surveys are required to relocate this species to establish the limits of its distribution and to identify population trends. This information will help aid conservation practices and management.
- Order: Squamata
- Family: Scincidae
- Population: Unknown
- Trend: unknown
- Size: >200mm
EDGE Score
Distribution
This species is known from Berera, Madagascar at an elevation of 170 metres above sea level.
Habitat and Ecology
This species lives in lowland transitional forest. This lizard is probably fossorial (meaning a burrowing animal) and may be active at night in leaf litter.