Added 16 December 2025.
Blind Legless Skinks
The genus Typhlosaurus is a small genus centred on Namibia and South Africa. In the twenty-first century, several species formerly belonging to this group were reassigned to Acontias instead.
Boulenger characterised the genus as follows: nostril pierced in the very large rostral shield, which covers the snout, connected with the posterior border of that shield by a long straight suture. Scales broad, hexagonal or tetragonal. A large preanal scale. Branch notes that the genus has many adaptations to a subterranean existence, including the eyes, which are vestigial, lying under the head shields as dark spots, the hidden ear openings, and the thin body covered with close-fitting scales. All are burrowers, mostly found in sandy regions under stones or among dead bark and fallen branches beneath trees.
This species does not appear to be offered for sale within the herpetocultural hobby often if at all, no doubt partly due to the wildlife laws of the region but also because as “blind” burrowers, they are unlikely to be of interest to other than specialists.
To go to the Bibliography from a given entry, click on B: to return to the Quick Index, click on I.
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T. braini, Haacke’s Legless Skink, Brain’s Blind Legless Skink |
T. caecus, Southern Blind Legless Skink, Cuvier’s Legless Skink |
T. meyeri, Meyer’s Blind Legless Skink, Variable Blind Legless Skink |
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T. vermis, Boulenger’s Legless Skink, Pink Blind Legless Skink |
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Family Scincidae
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Scientific Name |
Common Name |
Distribution |
Size |
Notes |
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Typhlosaurus |
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T. braini |
Haacke’s Legless Skink, Brain’s Blind Legless Skink |
Namibia |
SVL 15-20 cm, max 20 cm |
See Branch for behaviour. Found in sand dunes in the Namib Desert. Scalation details: all head shields between rostral and parietals fused into single large shield; first 8-10 scales behind head are wider than other body scales; 12-14 scale rows at midbody; >250 ventrals. Tail: relatively long, 5157 subcaudals. Coloration: overall light pink with a few faint brown marks on the forehead. [SOURCE: Branch] B I |
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T. caecus |
Southern Blind Legless Skink, Cuvier’s Legless Skink |
Republic of South Africa (W Cape) |
SVL 15-20 cm; max SVL approx 21.5 cm |
Found in sparsely vegetated coastal dunes. Description: snout slightly flattened but rounded. Rostral twice as long as the other head-shields; frontal and interparietal subequal, much broader than long; a pair of very small parietals, not forming a suture behind; mental very large, cordiform. Scales hexagonal, very broad, in 14 longitudinal series. Rufous, reticulated with purple. [SOURCE: Boulenger, Branch] B I |
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T. meyeri |
Meyer’s Blind Legless Skink, Variable Blind Legless Skink |
Namibia, Republic of South Africa |
SVL 12-16 cm; max SVL nearly 19 cm |
Found in sparsely vegetated coastal dunes. Description: snout has sharp horizontal edge. Scalation details: rostral flattened below; head shields reduced in number, with only 2 behind rostral; rostral longer than the other head shields together; posterior supraciliary fused with postocular; 5 chin shields border mental; 12-14 scale rows at midbody; 207-225 ventrals. Coloration: broad yellow vertebral band; dark stripe on each flank; some individuals have lateral stripes broken into spots, other individuals lack all coloration except dark streak on the head. [SOURCE: Branch] B I |
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T. vermis |
Boulenger’s Legless Skink, Pink Blind Legless Skink |
Republic of South Africa |
SVL 20-25 cm, max SVL approx 27.5 cm |
Description: snout conical, projecting. Scalation details: rostral and mental enormous, latter cordiform; the other head-shields minute, the largest (a frontal and an interparietal, of subequal size) much smaller than a dorsal scale; eye scarcely distinguishable through a small ocular, which is in contact with the naso-rostral suture and with the first labial; a supraocular separates the ocular from the frontal; no distinct parietals. The scales on the greater part of the body are tetragonal, much broader than long, forming oblique series converging on the median line of the belly; 12 scales round the middle of the body, the two median dorsals largest, the two median ventrals smallest. Tail: very short, ending in an obtuse point. Coloration: uniformly flesh-coloured. [SOURCE: Boulenger, Branch] B I |