Amphisbaena hogei VANZOLINI, 1950

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Higher Taxa	Amphisbaenidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies
Common Names	E: Hoge's Worm Lizard Portuguese: Cobra-de-Duas-Cabeças, Cobra-Cega
Synonym	Amphisbaena darwini hogei VANZOLINI 1950 Amphisbaena hogei — GANS 1966: 150 Amphisbaena hogei — GANS 2005: 15 Amphisbaena hogei — BERNILS et al. 2007 Amphisbaena carioca ROCHA et al. 2023 Amphisbaena hogei — COSTA 2024 Amphisbaena carioca — PASSOS et al. 2025
Distribution	Brazil (E Sao Paulo to Santa Catarina, Rio de Janeiro) Type locality: Brazil; São Paulo: Ilha dos Alcatrazes (24°05’S, 45°42’W).
Reproduction	oviparous
Types	Holotype: MZUSP (given as DZ 6905 in Gans 2005). Paratypes: DZ 6906–6920.
Diagnosis	DIAGNOSIS: This is a small form of Amphisbaena, without major fusion of the head shields, with a bluntly pointed head, with the prefrontals by far the largest segments on the dorsal and the mental on the ventral surface of the head, with only slight swelling of the rostral tip but with considerable bulging of the temporal muscles, and a tendency to two enlarged pairs of parietal segments as well as general enlargements of the segments of the postocular region. The form has 177 to 191 body annuli, 15 to 19 caudal annuli, a clearly marked autotomy constriction that falls on the fourth to sixth (in one case on the seventh) postcloacal annulus, 10 to 13 dorsal and 14 to 18 median numbers of ventral segments to a midbody annulus, and four large, round, precloacal pores in both males and females. The tail is cylindrical and roundly capped distally. Only the lateral sulci are apparent. Specimens are brown dorsally and faintly countershaded. The central rectangle of each segment is more darkly pigmented; the pigmented area shrinks below the lateral line and finally drops out by segments. (Gans 1966: 250) Unfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 40 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details.
Comment	Synonymy: The validity of Amphisbaena carioca has been questioned by Costa 2025 because the name has not been properly registered with Zoobank and thus not validly published.
Etymology	Named after Dr. Alphonse Richard Hoge (1912-1982), a Brazilian-born Belgian herpetologist. Soon after his birth, the family returned to Belgium (1913). However, he returned to Brazil and joined Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, Brazil (1946), and was Director of the Biology Departtnent (1969-1982).
References	Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here Bérnils, R.S.; Batista, M.A. & Bertelli, P.W. 2001. Cobras e lagartos do Vale: levantamento das espécies de Squamata (Reptilia, Lepidosauria) da Bacia do Rio Itajai, Santa Catarina, Brasil. Rev. Est. Ambientais (Blumenau) 3 (1): 69-79 Costa, H. C. 2024. Reidentification of a 19th century specimen reveals the first record of Amphisbaena hogei Vanzolini, 1950 (Squamata, Amphisbaenidae) in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Evolutionary Systematics, 8, 273-278 - get paper here COSTA, HENRIQUE C. 2025. On the unavailability of five reptilian names. Bionomina 42 (1): 1-9 Gans, C. 1966. Studies on amphisbaenids (Amphisbaenia, Reptilia). 3. The small species from southern South America commonly identified as Amphisbaena darwini. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 134: 185-260. - get paper here Gans, C. 2005. CHECKLIST AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE AMPHISBAENIA OF THE WORLD. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 289: 1-130 - get paper here Gonzalez R. C. et al. 2020. Lista dos Nomes Populares dos Répteis no Brasil – Primeira Versão. Herpetologia Brasileira 9 (2): 121 – 214 - get paper here MARQUES, O. A. V.; PEREIRA, D. N.; BARBO, F.E.; GERMANO, V.J. & SAWAYA, R. J. 2009. Os Répteis do Município de São Paulo: diversidade e ecologia da fauna pretérita e atual. Biota Neotropica 9: 1-12 - get paper here Mattison, Chris 2007. The New Encyclopedia of Snakes. Princeton University Press PASSOS, P., RODRIGUES, R., PINNA, P. H., WOITOVICZ-CARDOSO, M. A. N. O. E. L. A., FERNANDES, R., & CARAMASCHI, U. 2025. Filling gaps between museum and society: An illustrated catalog of the primary type specimens of Squamata housed in the Museu Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Zootaxa 5698(1): 1-91 - get paper here PEREZ, RENATA; SÍRIA RIBEIRO & MÁRCIO BORGES-MARTINS 2012. Reappraisal of the taxonomic status of Amphisbaena prunicolor (Cope 1885) and Amphisbaena albocingulata Boettger 1885 (Amphisbaenia: Amphisbaenidae). Zootaxa 3550: 1–25 - get paper here ROCHA, CARLOS FREDERICO D.; HELENA G.BERGALLO, JOSÉ P. POMBAL JR., LENA GEISE, MONIQUE VAN SLUYS, RONALDO FERNANDES, ULISSES CARAMASCHI 2004. FAUNA DE ANFÍBIOS, RÉPTEIS E MAMÍFEROS DO ESTADO DO RIO DE JANEIRO, SUDESTE DO BRASIL. Publ. Avul. Mus. Nac., Rio de Janeiro (104): 3-23 - get paper here Vanzolini, P.E. 2002. AN AID TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN SPECIES OF AMPHISBAENA (SQUAMATA, AMPHISBAENIDAE). Pap. Avul. Zool., Sao Paulo 42(15):351-362 - get paper here Vanzolini, PAULO EMILIO 1950. Contribuiçoes ao conhecimento dos lagartos Brasileiros da familia Amphisbaenidae Gray, 1825. I. Sobre uma nova subspecies insular de Amphisbaena darwinii D. and B., 1839. Pap. Avul. Zool., Sao Paulo 9: 69-77 - get paper here Vanzolini,P.E. 1991. Two new small species of Amphisbaena from the fossil dune field of the middle Rio São Francisco, State of Bahia, Brasil (Reptilia, Amphisbaenia). Pap. Avul. Univ. Sao Paulo. 37 (17): 259-276 Zaher, Hussam; Fausto Erritto BarboI; Paola Sanchez Martínez; Cristiano Nogueira; Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues; Ricardo Jannini Sawaya 2011. Répteis do Estado de São Paulo: conhecimento atual e perspectivas. Biota Neotropica, 11 (1): 1–15. - get paper here
External links	IUCN Red List Google images

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