Chirindia
| Pink round-headed worm lizards | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Soutpansberg worm lizard, Chirindia langi subsp. occidentalis | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Subphylum: | Vertebrata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Amphisbaenia |
| Family: | Amphisbaenidae |
| Genus: | Chirindia Boulenger, 1907 |
| Species | |
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see text | |
| Synonyms | |
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The pink round-headed worm lizards (Chirindia) are a genus in the family Amphisbaenidae, that are native to East and southern Africa,[1] from Tanzania to South Africa. They are unpigmented worm lizards with rounded heads, and extensive fusion of the head shields.[1]
Description
The Chirindia are some 13.5 cm long, with the tail 1.4 cm, and the body is 3 mm in diameter. They are uniformly, unpigmented flesh-coloured, tinged with purplish, and have minute teeth.[2] They usually lack an ocular shield, and each eye is situated under the posterior part of a large fused shield, that combines the nasal, second and sometimes first upper labial, prefrontal and sometimes the ocular shield into one,[1] so as to cover all of one side of the snout.[2]
The pair of large shields, fused with the ocular to cover each side of the snout, combined with a small azygous rostral shield, are comparable to that of genus Placogaster of the Senegambia, but the paired ventral shields, and absence of pre-anal pores in some species distinguish them.[2]
Habits and predators
They burrow in loose soil and feed on termites. They are present in clay, sandy or alluvial soils, and sometimes find refuge under stones and rotten logs.[1] They are preyed on by jackals, ratels, kingfishers and snakes, of which some, like the dwarf wolf snake, are specialized to prey on them.[1]
Species
The genus contains 5 or 6 species:[1][3]
- Chirindia ewerbecki Werner, 1910 – Mbanja worm lizard
- Chirindia ewerbecki subsp. ewerbecki
- Chirindia ewerbecki subsp. nanguruwensis
- Chirindia langi Fitzsimons, 1939 – Lang's worm lizard
- Chirindia langi subsp. langi
- Chirindia langi subsp. occidentalis – Soutpansberg worm lizard
- Chirindia mpwapwaensis (Loveridge, 1932) – Mpwapwa worm lizard
- Chirindia orientalis (Sternfeld, 1911) – a full species or synonym of C. swynnertoni;[4] type locality: Mikindani
- Chirindia rondoensis (Loveridge, 1941) – Nchingidi worm lizard
- Chirindia swynnertoni Boulenger, 1907 – Swynnerton's worm lizard; type locality: Chirinda Forest
- syn. Chirindia bushbyi
References
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Wikispecies has information related to: Chirindia |
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Branch, Bill (1998). Field guide to snakes and other reptiles of southern Africa (3 ed.). Cape Town: Struik. pp. 121–122. ISBN 9781868720408.
- 1 2 3 Boulenger, G. A. (1907). "Descriptions of a new Toad and a new Amphisbaenid from Mashonaland". Annals and Magazine of Natural History 20 (7): 47–49. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ↑ "Genus: Chirindia". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
- ↑ "Chirindia swynnertoni BOULENGER, 1907". The Reptile Database. Retrieved 23 November 2014.