FitzSimons burrowing skink

Typhlacontias brevipes

The FitzSimons' burrowing skink 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.
Fitzsimons Burrowing Skink An amazing little critter found "in" the sand dunes of the Namib Desert and seen on the "Living Desert" tour. FitzSimons burrowing skink,Geotagged,Namibia,Spring,Typhlacontias brevipes,namib desert,skink

Appearance

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.

Naming

The species is named from the Latin words “brevis, -e” = short and “pes, pedis” = foot.
⤷  The common name is FitzSimons' burrowing skink
⤷  Alternative name is Short Blind Dart Skink
⤷  Namibian Burrowing Skink

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Status: Not evaluated
EX EW CR EN VU NT LC
Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionChordata
ClassReptilia
OrderSquamata
FamilyScincidae
GenusTyphlacontias
SpeciesT. brevipes
Photographed in
Namibia