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Amphisbaena kingii (BELL, 1833)

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Higher TaxaAmphisbaenidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: King's Worm Lizard
Portuguese: Anfisbena-de-Crista, Cobra-de-Duas-Cabeças, Cobra-Cega 
SynonymAnops kingi BELL 1833: 99
Amphisbaena galeata WIEGMANN 1834
Amphisbaena Kingii — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 496
Anops kingii — GRAY 1865: 372
Anops Kingii — BOULENGER 1886: 428
Anopsibaena kingii — STEJNEGER 1916: 85
Anopsibaena kingii — LIEBERMANN 1939
Anops kingi — CEI 1993
Anops kingii — GANS 2005: 22
Amphisbaena kingii — MOTT & VIEITES 2009
Anops kingii — AVILA et al. 2010
Anops kingi — AVILA et al. 2013 
DistributionBrazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Uruguay, Argentina (Cordoba to Rio Negro, Buenos Aires, Chubut), Bolivia (Tarija, Gran Chaco)

Type locality: “America Australi”  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: lost fide GANS & RHODES 1964.
Syntypes: MNHN-RA 551 (?) 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS: A small amphisbaenid (maximum total length 250mm), body stocky, short-tailed, head laterally compressed, a little narrower than the body. Rostral scale high, arcuate, forming a cutting edge, variously keratinized. Mandibular symphysis reaching the levei of the nostril. Lateral sulci apparent. Dorsal sulcus varying from entirely obsolete to well-expressed. Ventral sulcus inconstant. Tail cylindrical to the autotomy levei, clavate behind that. Tip of tail rounded. Body annuli 214-244, with frequent irregularities. Tail annuli 15-23. Dorsal segments (12-19), narrow, ventral (14-22) squarish, ali reasonably well aligned. Preanal pores usually four, contiguous, in some cases inapparent, if visible varying from slight impressions to small but well defined and pigmented orifices. (Vanzolini 1999) 
CommentType species: Anops kingi is the type species of the genus Anops BELL 1833. MOTT & VIEITES 2009 synonymized Anops with Amphisbaena, as it nests within Amphisbaena (confirmed by Longrich et al. 2015). STEJNEGER (1916) states that Anops is pre-occupied by a crustacean and thus suggested a replacement name, Anopsibaena.

Vanzolini (1999), based mostly on skull morphology, diagnosed the genus Anops with the following combination of characters: laterally compressed snout, with a keel formed by the vertical process of the premaxilla which entirely separates the nasal bones; an angle between maxilla and premaxilla; basypterigoid process and choanarum posterior portion absent; rodlike quadrate; premaxillary teeth 5–7, maxillary 3–4, mandibular 6–7, pleurodont dentition; rostral pronounced forming a vertical blade. No differentiated segments in the body annuli. 
Etymologynamed after Captain and Admiral Philip Parker King (1791-1856), Australian-born British marine surveyor and collector. 
References
  • Avila, L. J.; Martinez, L. E.; Morando, M. 2010. Lista de las lagartijas y anfisbaenas de Argentina: una actualización [en línea]. Ver.1.0. 1 Diciembre 2010 [Checklist of lizards and amphisbaenians of Argentina: An update]. Centro Nacional Patagónico CENPAT-CONICET. Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina. - 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
  • Bell, T. 1833. [Descriptions of] two reptiles [and] the types of two genera hitherto undescribed. Characters of two new genera of reptiles. Proc. zool. Soc. London 1833: 98-99 - get paper here
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1886. A synopsis of the reptiles and batrachians of the province Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (5) 18: 423-445 - get paper here
  • Brygoo, E. R. 1990. Les types d'Amphisbaenidés, Pygopodidés, Xantusiidés (Reptiles, Sauriens) du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle - Catalogue critique. Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat. 12 (ser. 4) A (3-4), suppl.: 3-18
  • Camp, Charles Lewis 1923. Classification of the Lizards. Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. 48 (11): 289-481. - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1885. Twelfth contribution to the herpetology of tropical America. Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. 22: 167-194 [1884] - get paper here
  • Costa HC, Welton LJ, Hallermann J 2018. An updated diagnosis of the rare Amphisbaena slateri Boulenger, 1907, based on additional specimens (Squamata, Amphisbaenia, Amphisbaenidae). Evolutionary Systematics 2(2): 125-135 - get paper here
  • Duméril, A. M. C. and G. Bibron. 1839. Erpétologie Générale on Histoire Naturelle Complète des Reptiles. Vol. 5. Roret/Fain et Thunot, Paris, 871 pp. - get paper here
  • Falcione, Camila and Alejandra Hernando 2010. A new karyotypic formula for the genus Amphisbaena (Squamata: Amphisbaenidae). Phyllomedusa 9 (1): 75-80 - get paper here
  • Gallardo, J.M. 1972. Composicion faunistica de los saurios de la Provincia de la Pampa, Republica Argentina. Neotropica 17 (52): 44-48
  • Gallardo, Jose M. 1966. Liolaemus lentus nov. Sp. (Iguanidae) de la Pampa y Algunas observaciones sobre los saurios de picha provincia Argentina y del oeste de Buenos Aires. Neotropica 12 (37): 15-29
  • Gans, C. 2005. CHECKLIST AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE AMPHISBAENIA OF THE WORLD. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 289: 1-130 - get paper here
  • Gans, C., & Rhodes, C. 1964. Notes on amphisbaenids (Amphisbaenia, Reptilia). 13. A systematic review of Anops Bell, 1833. American Museum Novitates (2186): 1-25 - get paper here
  • Gonzales, Lucindo & Ronald Sosa 2005. PRIMERA CITA DE ANOPS KINGI BELL, 1833 (SQUAMATA: AMPHISBAENIDAE) PARA BOLIVIA. Kempffiana 1 (1): 63-64 - 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
  • Gray,J.E. 1865. A revision of the genera and species of amphisbaenians with the descriptions of some new species now in the collection of the British Museum. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (3) 16: 365-377 - get paper here
  • LANGNER, C. 2019. Die geheimnisvollen Doppelschleichen (Amphisbaenia) - ein Leben im Untergrund Elaphe 2019 (6): 14-21
  • Longrich, Nicholas R.; Jakob Vinther , R. Alexander Pyron , Davide Pisani , Jacques A. Gauthier 2015. Biogeography of worm lizards (Amphisbaenia) driven by end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Proc Biol Sci. 2015 May 7;282(1806). pii: 20143034. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.3034. - get paper here
  • Minoli I, Morando M, Avila LJ 2015. Reptiles of Chubut province, Argentina: richness, diversity, conservation status and geographic distribution maps. ZooKeys 498: 103-126. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.498.7476 - get paper here
  • Mott, Tamí; David R. Vieites 2009. Molecular phylogenetics reveals extreme morphological homoplasy in Brazilian worm lizards challenging current taxonomy. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 51 (2): 190-200 - get paper here
  • Moura, M.R., Costa, H.C., Abegg, A.D., Alaminos, E., Angarita-Sierra, T., Azevedo, W.S., Cabral, H., Carvalho, P., Cechin, S., Citeli, N., Dourado, A.C.M., Duarte, A.F.V., França, F.G.R., Freire, E.M.X., Garcia, P.C.A., Mol, R., Montero, R., Moraes-d 2022. Unwrapping broken tails: Biological and environmental correlates of predation pressure in limbless reptiles. Journal of Animal Ecology. 92(2):324–337 - 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
  • Prigioni, C.; C. Borteiro; F. Kolenc. 2011. Amphibia and Reptilia, Quebrada de los Cuervos, Departamento de Treinta y Tres, Uruguay. Check List 7 (6): 763-767 - get paper here
  • Ribeiro, SÍria; Carolina Castro-Mello, Cristiano Nogueira 2009. New Species of Anops Bell, 1833 (Squamata, Amphisbaenia) from Jalapão Region in the Brazilian Cerrado. Journal of Herpetology 43 (1):21-28 - get paper here
  • Rosenberg, Herbert I. 1967. Hemipenial morphology of some Amphisbaenids (Amphisbaenia: Reptilia). Copeia 1967 (2): 349-361 - get paper here
  • Scrocchi, Gustavo J.; Cristian S. Abdala,Javier Nori, Hussam Zaher 2010. Reptiles de la provincia de Río Negro, Argentina. Fondo Ed. Rionegrino, 249 pp.
  • Stejneger, L. 1916. Notes on amphisbaenian nomenclature. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington 29:85. - get paper here
  • TOZETTI, A. M., MOSER, C. F., & COLOMBO, P. 2023. AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF TAIM, A BRAZILIAN RAMSAR SITE: CURRENT KNOWLEDGE AND A POSSIBLE CASE OF LOCAL EXTINCTION. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 18(1), 38-47 - get paper here
  • Vanzolini,P.E. 1999. On Anops (Reptilia: Amphisbaenia: Amphisbaenidae). Papeis Avulsos de Zool., São Paulo, 41 (1): 1-37 - get paper here
  • Vega, Laura E. 2001. Reproductive and feeding ecology of the amphisbaenian Anops kingii in east-central Argentina. Amphibia-Reptilia 22 (4): 447-454 - get paper here
  • Vera, David G, Diego O Di Pietro, Clara Trofino Falasco, Germán Tettamanti, Luciana Iriarte, Micaela Harkes, Federico P Kacoliris, and Igor Berkunsky. 2022. Identifying Key Conservation Sites for the Reptiles of the Tandilia Mountains in Pampas Highlands. Journal for Nature Conservation, 126321 - get paper here
  • Williams J D; Wichmann S I 1989. Nueva localidad para Anops kingii Bell (Reptilia: Amphisbaenidae) y Phylodrias aestivus (Dumeril, Bibron & Dumeril) (Reptilia: Colubridae) en el este de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Bol. Asoc. Herp. Argentina 5 (1-2): 12-13. - get paper here
 
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