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Bachia dorbignyi (DUMÉRIL & BIBRON, 1839)

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Higher TaxaGymnophthalmidae (Cercosaurinae, Bachiinae), Sauria, Gymnophthalmoidea, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Dorbigny's Bachia
Portuguese: Lagarto-Ápodo, Lagarto-sem-Pata 
SynonymChalcides dorbignyi DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 462
Bachia dorbignyi — GRAY 1845: 58
Cophias dorbignyi — BOULENGER 1885: 417
Bachia dorbignyi — GARMAN 1892: 2
Bachia dorbignyi — VANZOLINI 1961: 198
Bachia dorbingyi — DONOSO-BARROS & GARRIDO 1964 (in error)
Bachia dorbignyi — PETERS et al. 1970: 80
Bachia dorbignyi — PRESCH 1975
Bachia dorbignyi — DIRKSEN & DE LA RIVA 1999
Bachia dorbignyi — DE FREITAS et al. 2011
Bachia dorbignyi — COSTA-PRUDENTE et al. 2013 
DistributionSE Peru, E Bolivia (Beni, Cochabamba, La Paz, Pando, Santa Cruz), Brazil (W Rondonia, Acre, Mato Grosso?)

Type locality: Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: MNHN-RA 2841 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (subfamily Bachiinae): Bauplan associated with fossorial habits. Body serpentiform, elongate, cylindrical. Four reduced limbs, especially hind limbs, with variable number of digits, some lacking claws. External ear absent; lower eyelid with unsegmented semi-transparent disc. Head scales reduced in number; frontoparietals absent. Ventrals smooth (Colli et al. 2015).


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CommentType species: Chalcides dorbignyi DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839 is the type species of the genus Bachia GRAY 1845 (see Dixon 1973: 14). Bachia is the type genus of the tribus Bachini (Castoe et al. 2004) or the subfamily Bachiinae (Colli et al. 2015, Pyron et al. 2013). Murphy et al. 2019 erroneously gave the type species of Bachia as Chalcides flavescens BONNATERRE 1789.

Distribution: see map in TEXEIRA et al. 2013: 412. Not in Paraguay (Cacciali et al. 2016).

Characters: Thomas 1965: 22 has a table (Tabl 1) of morphological characters across Bachia known at the time.

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyNamed after Alcide Dessalines d'Orbigny (1802-1857), French traveler and naturalist who lived in South America for 8 years (1826-1834).

The origin of the genus name remains unclear. In Hurtado de Mendoza's Dictionary of Medicine (1840), it is stated that "Bachia" is a condition whose name derives from the word "Baccus," meaning wine, referring to the flushed color of the face which is so common in drunkards. Alternatively, the name may be from Greek "bakchao" (βακχάω), to be in a state of frenzy which may refer to behavior. 
References
  • Avila-Pires, T.C.S. 1995. Lizards of Brazilian Amazonia (Reptilia: Squamata). Zoologische Verhandelingen 299: 1-706 - 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. 1885. Catalogue of the lizards in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 2, Second edition. London, xiii+497 pp. - get paper here
  • Boulenger,G.A. 1898. A list of the reptiles and batrachians collected by the late Prof. L. Balzan in Boliva. Ann. Mus. Civ. Storia Nat. Genova (2) 19: 128-133 - get paper here
  • Castrillon, M.I & C. STRUSSMAN 1998. Nova espécie de Bachia e a presença de B. dorbignyi (DUMÉRIL & BIBRON) no sudoeste de Mato Grosso, Brasil (Sauria, Gymnophthalmidae). Revista Bras. Zool. 15 (3): 567-581. - get paper here
  • CATENAZZI, A., LEHR, E. & VON MAY, R. 2013. The amphibians and reptiles of Manu National Park and its buffer zone, Amazon basin and eastern slopes of the Andes, Peru. Biota Neotropica 13 (4): 269-283
  • COLLI, GUARINO R.; MARINUS S. HOOGMOED, DAVID C. CANNATELLA, JOSÉ CASSIMIRO, JERRIANE OLIVEIRA GOMES, JOSÉ MÁRIO GHELLERE, PEDRO M. SALES-NUNES, KÁTIA C. M. PELLEGRINO, PATRICIA SALERNO, SERGIO MARQUES DE SOUZA & MIGUEL TREFAUT RODRIGUES 2015. Description and phylogenetic relationships of a new genus and two new species of lizards from Brazilian Amazonia, with nomenclatural comments on the taxonomy of Gymnophthalmidae (Reptilia: Squamata). Zootaxa 4000 (4): 401–427 - get paper here
  • Dirksen, L. & De la Riva, I. 1999. The lizards and amphisbaenians of Bolivia (Reptilia, Squamata): checklist, localities, and bibliography. Graellsia 55: 199-215 - get paper here
  • Dixon, J.R. 1973. A systematic review of the teiid lizards, genus Bachia, with remarks on Heterodactylus and Anotosaura. Misc. Publ. Univ. Kans. Mus. Nat. Hist. 57: 1-47 - get paper here
  • Dixon,J.R. 1974. Systematic review of the lizard genus Anotosaura (Teiidae). Herpetologica 30: 13-18 - get paper here
  • Donoso-Barros, R. and A. Garrido R. 1964. Nuevo Teiidae de Venezuela, Bachia marcelae, nov. sp. Publ. Ocas. Mus. Cienc. Nat., Caracas (Zool.) 8: 1-7
  • Dorado-Rodrigues, T. F., Valadão, R. M., Valério, L. M., Castro, C. P. D., & Strüssmann, C. 2025. Herpetofauna from a protected area situated in a biogeographic transition zone in Central South America. Biota Neotropica, 25(1), e20241681 - 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
  • 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
  • Griffin, L. E. 1917. A list of the South American lizards of the Carnegie Museum, with descriptions of four new species. Annals of the Carnegie Museum 11: 304-320. - get paper here
  • Lehr, E. 2002. Amphibien und Reptilien in Peru. Natur und Tier-Verlag (Münster), 208 pp. - get paper here
  • MENDES-PINTO, TELÊMACO JASON; Mestrando, BERNHARD, RAFAEL, VOGT, RICHARD; PEDRETT, RONNEZZA CÉLLIA LOBATO CAMPOS;GARCIA, RAUBER SANTOS 2011. A COLLECTION OF AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF RESEARCH OF THE AMAZON. Rev. Colombiana cienc. Anim. 3(2): 238 - get paper here
  • Parker, H.W. 1928. Notes on reptiles and batrachians from Matto Grosso and eastern Bolivia. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (10) 2: 96-99 - get paper here
  • Presch, William 1975. The evolution of limb reduction in the Teiid lizard genus Bachia. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 74 (3): 113-121 - get paper here
  • Procter, J. B. 1921. On a small collection of reptiles and batrachians made by Mr. GOODFELLOW in eastern Bolivia (1918-1919). Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (9) 7: 189-193. - get paper here
  • Prudente, A.L.C.; F. Magalhães; A. Menks; J.F.M. Sarmento. 2013. Checklist of Lizards of the Juruti, state of Pará, Brazil. Check List 9 (1):42-50 - get paper here
  • Rabosky, Daniel L.; Rudolf von May, Michael C. Grundler and Alison R. Davis Rabosky 2019. The Western Amazonian Richness Gradient for Squamate Reptiles: Are There Really Fewer Snakes and Lizards in Southwestern Amazonian Lowlands? Diversity 11: 199; doi:10.3390/d11100199 - get paper here
  • RIBEIRO-JÚNIOR, MARCO A. & SILVANA AMARAL 2017. Catalogue of distribution of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Brazilian Amazonia. IV. Alopoglossidae, Gymnophthalmidae. Zootaxa 4269 (2): 151-196 - get paper here
  • Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A.; Marcélia B. da Silva, and Jucivaldo D. Lima 2016. A New Species of Bachia Gray 1845 (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Eastern Guiana Shield. Herpetologica 72 (2): 148-156. - get paper here
  • Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A. & Silvana Amaral 2016. Diversity, distribution, and conservation of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) in the Brazilian Amazonia. Neotropical Biodiversity, 2:1, 195-421 - get paper here
  • TEIXEIRA; MAURO, JR; FRANCISCO DAL VECHIO, PEDRO M. SALES-NUNES, ANTONIO MOLLO NETO, LUCIANA MOREIRA LOBO, LUIS FERNANDO STORTI, RENATO AUGUSTO JUNQUEIRA GAIGA, PEDRO HENRIQUE FREIRE DIAS, MIGUEL TREFAUT RODRIGUES 2013. A new species of Bachia Gray, 1845 (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the western Brazilian Amazonia. Zootaxa 3636 (3): 401–420 [erratum in Zootaxa 3646: 200] - get paper here
  • Thomas, R. 1965. A new species of Bachia (Sauria: Teiidae) from Brasil. Herpetologica 21 (1): 18-22 - get paper here
  • Uetz, P.H.; Patel, M.; Gbadamosi, Z.; Nguyen, A.; Shoope, S. 2024. A Reference Database of Reptile Images. Taxonomy 4: 723–732 - get paper here
  • Vanzolini,P.E. 1961. Bachia: Especies Brasileiras e conceito generico (Sauria: Teiidae). Papéis Avulsos Zoologia (São Paulo) 14: 193-209 - get paper here
 
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