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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)


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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
  • Dely, O. G. 1970. Untersuchungen über die Ringelechse Anops kingi Bell, 1833 (Reptilia: Amphisbaenidae). The Scientific Results of the Hungarian Soil Zoological Expeditions to South America, 16. Opiusc. Zool. Budapest. 10 (2): 231-239
  • 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.
  • Souza Filho, G.A.; L.Verrastro 2012. Reptiles of the Parque Estadual de Itapuã, state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. Check List 8(5):847-851 - get paper here
  • 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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