Spotted double sneak
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Spotted double worm ( Amphisbaena fuliginosa ) |
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| Amphisbaena fuliginosa | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
The spotted worm lizard ( Amphisbaena fuliginosa ), also known as the black and white worm lizard, speckled worm lizard, or spotted worm lizard, is a species of double worm in the genus Amphisbaena. This species can usually be easily distinguished from other species because of its characteristic white and black mosaic pattern.
Appearance
The spotted double worm has a snake-like, muscular body with a cylindrical cross-section, it reaches a body length of around 30 to 70 centimeters. The head is relatively large within the genus with a rounded, slightly swollen snout region. The eyes are, as is typical for the species, rudimentary and covered by transparent scales. On the head, the rostral is of moderate size, the nasals are strikingly large and touch the second supralabials . The body and the tail are divided into clear, conspicuous ringlets (annuli), the number of which differs depending on the subspecies. In the nominate form there are 192 to 218 trunk annuli and 24 to 29 on the tail. As with many lizards, the tail can be thrown off at a pre-formed fracture line ( autotomy ), which in this species is at the fifth to eighth annulus of the tail. The number of pre-anal pores is six to ten, and thus more than most other species of the genus, which only have four.
The species has, depending on the subspecies, somewhat different, characteristic drawing, which always consists of a dark pattern of spots on a light background. The basic color varies from yellowish white to pink to purple-red, the spots from black to relatively light, only a little darker than the basic color.
distribution
The spotted double worm lives exclusively in tropical South America and the Caribbean, in Venezuela , Guyana , Suriname , French Guiana , Trinidad , Brazil and Peru . There she mostly inhabits the Amazon forest areas.
Lifestyle and diet
A. fuliginosa is a nocturnal , burrowing species that spends most of its time underground.
Like all species of the Amphisbaena genus, spotted double creeps do not have any special burial technique, but merely push the earth to the side by pushing the rounded head.
The spotted double worm feeds on almost any invertebrate or insect it can find. When it finds its prey, it uses its strong jaws to catch and kill it.
Reproduction
The reproduction of this species is oviparous .
Subspecies
There are five subspecies, some of which are also understood as separate species:
- Amphisbaena fuliginosa amazonica Vanzolini, 1951. The basic color is yellowish, with clearly defined black spots, the head almost always unspotted. Amazonia, east of the mouth of the Rio Negro .
- Amphisbaena fuliginosa bassleri Vanzolini, 1951. Basic color whitish-yellow, with dorsal, dark transverse spots, belly not spotted. In the region of the Amazon upper reaches in Ecuador and Peru, in the valley of the Río Ucayali .
- Amphisbaena fuliginosa fuliginosa Linnaeus, 1758. Basic color whitish-yellow, clearly set off with dark spots, abdominal region less spotted. Also the top of the head with spots. Guianas, to the Caribbean.
- Amphisbaena fuliginosa varia Laurenti, 1768. Basic color dirty pink, very dense, but relatively low-contrast spots, which sometimes almost obscure the basic color, everywhere equally dense. Panama, south in the Andes of Colombia, also in neighboring Ecuador and Venezuela.
- Amphisbaena fuliginosa wiedi Vanzolini, 1951. Basic color purple, dense back, belly sparsely spotted, tail often curled. Brazil south of the Amazon, roughly to the upper reaches of the Rio Tocantins . Very rare even in the Cerrado .
Phylogeny
According to more recent phylogenomic findings, the genus Amphisbaena was, in the traditional sense, paraphyletic . The previous genera Bronia and Cercolophia, but also the morphologically more differentiated Anops and Aulura, had to be included in Amphisbaena according to the results . According to the analysis, the sister species of Amphisbaena fuliginosa was Amphisbaena (formerly Bronia ) brasiliana.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Casey Deaven Andrew: Amphisbaena fuliginosa (Black and White Worm Lizard). At: The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago. 2015, download.
- ↑ a b Paulo Emilio Vanzolini: A second note on the geographical differentiation of Amphisbaena fuliginosa L., 1758 (Squamata, Amphisbaenidae), with a consideration of the forest refuge model of speciation. In: Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências. 74 (4), pp. 609-648. 2002.
- ^ PE Vanzolini: An aid to the identification of the South American species of Amphisbaena (Squamata, Amphisbaenidae). In: Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia. 42 (15), pp. 351-362.
- ^ Carl Gans: Checklist and Bibliography of the Amphisbaenidae of the World. In: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 289, pp. 1-130. 2005.
- ↑ Paulo Nogueira-Costa, Flávia Vieira de Oliveira Aguiar, Guilherme Ramos da Silva, Mariana Campelo Afonso, José Thiago Barbosa Baldine and Marcos Ferreira Venâncio: Reptilia, Squamata, Amphisbaenidae, Amphisbaena fuliginosa wiedi Vanzolini, 1951: Archived from the original on extension 4 March 2016. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( PDF ) In: CheckList . 9, No. 1, 2013, pp. 167-168. Retrieved February 4, 2017.
- ↑ Tamí Mott, David R. Vieites: Molecular phylogenetics reveals extreme morphological homoplasy in Brazilian worm lizards challenging current taxonomy. In: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 51, pp. 190-200. 2009. doi : 10.1016 / j.ympev.2009.01.014 .
