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Amphisbaena darwinii DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1839

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Higher TaxaAmphisbaenidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Darwin's Ringed Worm Lizard
Portuguese: Cobra-de-Duas-Cabeças-Uruguaia 
SynonymAmphisbaena Darwinii DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 490
Amphisbaena heterozonata BURMEISTER 1861
Amphisbaena Mildei PETERS 1879: 779
Amphisbaena trachura COPE 1885: 187
Amphisbaena Mildei — BOULENGER 1886: 428
Amphisbaena Darwinii — BOULENGER 1886: 428
Amphisbaena darwinii — WERNER 1910: 35
Amphisbaena darwini darwini — GANS 1966: 234
Amphisbaena darwini trachura — GANS 1966: 237
Amphisbaena darwini heterozonata — GANS 1966: 239
Amphisbaena darwini heterozonata — PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS 1970: 31
Amphisbaena darwini trachura — PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS 1970: 31
Amphisbaena darwinii — PETERS & DONOSO-BARROS 1970: 30
Amphisbaena darwini trachura — GOMES & KRAUSE 1982: 75
Amphisbaena darwinii trachura — BAUER et al. 1995: 67
Amphisbaena darwinii — DIRKSEN & DE LA RIVA 2000
Amphisbaena trachura — VANZOLINI 2002
Amphisbaena heterozonata — VANZOLINI 2002
Amphisbaena heterozonata — BERNILS et al. 2007
Amphisbaena heterozonata — PINNA et al. 2010
Amphisbaena trachura — FALCIONE & HERNANDO 2010
Amphisbaena trachura — PINNA et al. 2010
Amphisbaena trachura — ZAHER et al. 2011
Amphisbaena darwinii — CACCIALI et al. 2016
Amphisbaena darwinii — MONTERO 2016
Amphisbaena heterozonata — COSTA et al. 2018
Amphisbaena trachura — LANGNER 2019
Amphisbaena darwini — LANGNER 2019
Amphisbaena heterozonata — MOURA et al. 2022 
DistributionS/C Uruguay, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), Paraguay

Type locality: Montevideo, Uruguay

trachura: Brazil (São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul) to N Uruguay and NE Argentina (Misiones, Corrientes); Type locality: Brazil: Rio Grande do Sul: San Joao do Monte Negro, now Montenegro (29°42’S, 51°28’W).

heterozonata: Argentina north of Buenos Aires to S Bolivia; Type locality: Mendoza and Tucumán, Argentina; restricted to Mendoza, Argentina by MÜLLER (1941); corrected to Tucumán by GANS (1966).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 3107 (by monotypy; fide Brygoo 1990); Gans (1966) erroneously designated an invalid lectotype among specimens which were not syntypes: lectotype: MNHN-RA 3112 and paralectotypes: MNHN-RA 3107 and MNHN-RA 3113
Holotype: ZMB 6255 (possibly lost), ANSP 12988 [trachura]
Holotype: lost fide Gans 1966: 239; syntypes originally in the Zoological Institute in Halle (Müller 1940, 1941) [heterozonata] 
Diagnosis 
CommentSubspecies: Amphisbaena darwini heterozonata BURMEISTER 1861 and Amphisbaena darwini trachura (COPE 1885) have been elevated to full species status. However, Montero 2016 synonymized A. trachura and A. heterozonata with A. darwinii, although more recent authors considered them as valid.

Synonymy: GANS 1966 proposed suppression of the name Amphisbaena Mildei, which was subsequently rejected in priority but not homonymy according to ICZN Opinion 1131 (Melville 1979) and has been placed in the “Official Index of Rejected and invalid specific names in Zoology” as name number 1051 (after BAUER et al. 1995). Montero 2016 synonymized A. trachura and A. heterozonata with A. darwinii, although more recnet authors considered them as valid.

Distribution: not listed for Argentina fide AVILA et al. 2010, Lista de las lagartijas y anfisbaenas de Argentina. The type locality of Amphisbaena heterozonata is in SE Amazonas (Brazil), near the border to Pára (Figure 6 in Pinna et al. 2010). Amphisbaena heterozonata has not been found in Paraguay (Cacciali et al. 2016).

Morphology: This species is one of ~20 species of Amphisbaena with two precloacal pores (Ribeiro et al. 2019). 
EtymologyNamed after Charles Darwin (1809-1882) according to Gotch 1986. 
References
  • Alcalde, L., Cassano, M.J., Sánchez, R.M. & Belén-Tenorio, A. 2019. Species composition, abundance and diet of a squamate assemblage from the Carnaval stream headwaters (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Urban Ecosyst - get paper here
  • AVILA, LUCIANO JAVIER; LORENA ELIZABETH MARTINEZ & MARIANA MORANDO 2013. Checklist of lizards and amphisbaenians of Argentina: an update. Zootaxa 3616 (3): 201–238 - get paper here
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  • Montero, Ricardo 2016. On the Validity of Several Argentinian Species of Amphisbaena (Squamata, Amphisbaenidae). Journal of Herpetology 50 (4): 642-653 - get paper here
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