Chinese Ateuchosaurus

The Chinese short-limbed skink has an elongated body, with a snout-vent length of 70–80 mm in females and 82-83.8 mm in males. The tail is longer than the body, but tends to be shorter in individuals with regenerated tails. This lizard has short, pentadactyl limbs, with the fingers and toes being widely separated when adpressed. The snout is short and obtuse. The animal has a brownish color with a cream or yellowish white underside, and black and white spots on its flanks.

This skink is endemic to Vietnam and southern and central China. In Vietnam, it was originally known only from Mau Son Mountains, Lạng Sơn province, but has also since been found in secondary forests in Bắc Giang province and Hà Giang province. In China, it has been found in Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hong Kong, Hainan and Nan'ao Island. It is a terrestrial animal which lives among leaf litter on the floor of secondary forests and mixed forests of bamboo and wooden trees.

The Chinese short-limbed skink is insectivorous. Remains of an acridid grasshopper were found within a female skink collected at Huanghua Shan Reservoir, Nan'ao Island, and a male collected at the same location contained orthopteran eggs.