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Amphisbaena vermicularis WAGLER, 1824

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Higher TaxaAmphisbaenidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Wagler's Worm Lizard
Portuguese: Cobra-de-Duas-Cabeças, Cobra-Cega 
SynonymAmphisbaena vermicularis WAGLER 1824: 73
Amphisbaena vermicularis — DUMÉRIL & BIBRON 1839: 489
Glyptoderma vermicularis — FITZINGER 1843: 22
Amphisbaena vermicularis centralis AMARAL 1935: 255
Amphisbaena spixi SCHMIDT 1936
Amphisbaena vermicularis — GRAY 1865: 370
Amphisbaena vermicularis — GANS & AMDUR 1966: 71
Amphisbaena vermicularis — DIRKSEN & DE LA RIVA 2000
Amphisbaena vermicularis — GANS 2005: 21
Amphisbaena vermicularis — PAIVA et al. 2024 
DistributionBrazil (Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Para, Goias, Maranhão, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Pernambuco, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Piauí, Paraíba, Sergipe), Bolivia (Santa Cruz, Tarija)

Type locality: ‘‘In provincia Bahiae, . . . aux environs de la ville de Bahia,’’ Brazil.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: ZSM 660/0; Holotype: CAS 49423 (fide GANS 2005). 
DiagnosisDIAGNOSIS: A medium- to large-sized, elongate form of Amphisbaena having a fairly blunt snout; without fusion of head shields; with the prefrontals the largest segments by far; with minimal enlargement of parietals; with generally four supra- and three infralabials; and with a relatively long, cylindrical, bluntly terminating tail. The form has 211 to 254 body annuli; five to seven (generally six) caudal annuli up to the autotomy constriction (at which the tail is autotomized in 23.6 per cent of the specimens) ; 23 to 30 caudal annuli from the cloaca to the tip of the tail, which may be slightly compressed in a very few specimens; 18 to 26 dorsal and 18 to 25 ventral segments to a mid-body annulus; and four round precloacal pores in all specimens. The tail is characteristically elongate and cylindrical; the species has only lateral sulci. The color of preserved specimens is a uniform brownish dorsally, becoming lighter ventrally. The coloration occasionally gives the impression of being denser along the anterior edge of each annulus, with the fading-out along the side occurring diagonally from posterior to anterior edge of an annulus. The dorsal surface of the tail and of the head are darker, but the intersegmental sutures are lightened, thereby giving the neck a characteristic reticulated pattern (Gans & Amdur 1966: 71).


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CommentDistribution: map in HOOGMOED & AVILA-PIRES 1991.

Sympatry: Partly sympatric with A. silvestrii.

Similar species: A. arda, A. fuliginosa (see these species for details).

Type species: Amphisbaena vermicularis is the type species of the genus Glyptoderma FITZINGER 1843, now a synonym of Amphisbaena. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin vermiculi, grub, larva, worm + Latin -arius, having the nature of. (WAGLER 1824, Esteban Lavilla, pers. comm., April 2024) 
References
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  • Barros Filho, J.D. de 1996. NOTAS SOBRE OS AMPHISBAENIA (REPTILIA, SQUAMATA) DA MICRORREGIÃO DE FEIRA DE SANTANA, ESTADO DA BAHIA, BRASIL. Sitientibus, Feira de Santana (14): 57-68
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  • Madella-Auricchio, Cláudia Renata; Paulo Auricchio Enio Saraiva Soares 2017. Reptile species composition in the Middle Gurguéia and comparison with inventories in the eastern Parnaíba River Basin, State of Piauí, Brazil. Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 57(28): 375-386, - get paper here
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