Red double sneak
| Red double sneak | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Red double worm ( Amphisbaena alba ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Amphisbaena alba | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
The red double sneak ( Amphisbaena alba ) is an underground, legless lizard from the family of the real double snakes . Their home is the rainforests and savannas in Panama , Colombia , Venezuela , the three Guayanas , Trinidad , Brazil , Ecuador , Peru , Bolivia and northern Paraguay .
features
With a maximum length of 75 centimeters, it is the largest double sneak species. Males and females look alike. The build is stocky, the head width is up to 2.1 centimeters. The upper side of adults is dark reddish brown, the belly whitish. The number of annuli on the body is 198–248, on the tail 13–21. The total number of segments is 65–87.
Way of life
The red double worm is the only type of double worm whose way of life was examined in a field study in the Brazilian Cerrado . It feeds on a wide variety of arthropods , especially spiders , ants , termites , beetles , and insect larvae. Sometimes it was found in the burrows of ants, especially the leaf cutter ants ( Atta ). The eggs are also often hidden in the burrows by ants or termites. In contrast to other double worms, which only have small clutches, eight to 16 eggs hang together in a bundle in the red double worm.
Like all species of the Amphisbaena genus, red double creeps do not have any special burial technique, but merely push the earth to the side by pushing the rounded head.
Threatened, it stretches its short, head-like, blunt tail upwards to distract from the real head. The behavior has probably developed because the short tail can no longer be thrown off at predetermined breaking points like with the real lizards and can later be regenerated.
literature
- Eric R. Pianka, Laurie J. Vitt: Lizards: Windows to the Evolution of Diversity (Organisms and Environments) . University of California Press (2003), ISBN 0-520-23401-4 . Pp. 190-192.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Amphisbaena alba in The Reptile Database ; Retrieved January 7, 2011.
- ↑ a b P. E. Vanzolini: A new species of Amphisbaena from the state of Amazonas, Brasil (Reptilia, Amphisbaenia, Amphisbaenidae). In: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, 1989, Vol. 84, p. 527. ( Online ; PDF; 238 kB)
- ^ PE Vanzolini: An aid to the identification of the South American species of Amphisbaena (Squamata, Amphisbaenidae). In: Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, São Paulo 42: 351-362. ( Online ; PDF; 38 kB)
- ↑ Guarino R. Colli and Daria S. Zamboni: Ecology of the Worm-Lizard Amphisbaena alba in the Cerrado of Central Brazil. In: Copeia , No. 3, 1999. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists . P. 733–742, ( PDF; 3.2 MB ( Memento of the original dated December 12, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove it Note. ).
Web links
- Amphisbaena alba in The Reptile Database
- Amphisbaena alba inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011.2. Posted by: T. Mott, 2010. Retrieved November 19, 2011.