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Blanus strauchi (BEDRIAGA, 1884)

IUCN Red List - Blanus strauchi - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaBlanidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
SubspeciesBlanus strauchi strauchi (BEDRIAGA 1884)
Blanus strauchi bedriagae BOULENGER 1884 
Common NamesE: Turkish Worm Lizard
G: Türkische Ringelwühle 
SynonymAmphisbaena strauchi BEDRIAGA 1884: 35
Amphisbaena strauchi — BEDRIAGA 1884: 346
Blanus strauchi — ENGELMANN et al 1993
Blanus strauchi — KUMLUTAS et al. 2004
Blanus strauchi — KWET & TRAPP 2015
Blanus strauchi — SPEYBROECK et al. 2020

Blanus strauchi bedriagae BOULENGER 1884
Blanus bedriagae BOULENGER 1884: 396
Blanus strauchi bedriagae — ALEXANDER 1966
Blanus bedraigai [sic] AL-JUMAILY 1971
Blanus strauchi bedriagae — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008
Blanus strauchi bedriagae — SINDACO et al. 2014

Blanus strauchi strauchi (BEDRIAGA 1884)
Amphisbaena strauchi BEDRIAGA 1884: 35
Blanus strauchi strauchi — SINDACO & JEREMČENKO 2008
Blanus strauchi strauchi — SINDACO et al. 2014 
DistributionTurkey (Anatolia), Greece (Rhodos, Kos), Syria, N Iraq

bedriagae: Turkey (between Fethiye and Kas), Iraq; Type locality: “from the river Xanthus, Asia Minor”

Type locality: ‘‘Smyrna’’ (Izmir, Turkey).  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: BMNH 83.7.30.3 = RR1946.8.2.9 (designated by Alexander 1966). Paratypes: ZISP (formerly ZIL) 5903, plus three once in Bedriaga’s personal collection.
Syntypes: BMNH 1946.8.2.14, 1946.8.2.30, 1946.8.31.84-93 (according to Alexander 1966 the series currently consists of only specimens 85-93, but ZIL 6679 - now ZISP -, coming from the British Museum in 1885, may represent the missing specimen). [bedriagae] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis. A form of Blanus with the snout projecting beyond the lower jaw; no dropout of a dorsal half-annulus in the nuchal region; 98 to 128 body annuli along the ventral line; 15 to 20 caudal annuli; autotomy level usually indicated by a narrowing of the fourth or fifth postcloacal annulus; 14 to 20 dorsal, 16 to 23 ventral, 31 to 43 total segments per midbody annulus; four to 12 precloacal pores; varying in coloration from cream to dark brown.” (Alexander 1966)


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CommentDistribution: Occurrence on Cyprus questionable (BAIER et al. 2009 and pers. comm.). Reports from Israel are from the 19th century, so probably not in Israel any more or it was never there. Not in Lebanon where it is replaced by B. alexandri (Jablonski & Sadek 2019).

Synonymy: Baran (1977) concluded that only two subspecies can be identified in Turkey, B. s. strauchi and B. s. aporus, considering B. s. bedriagae as a synonym of B. s. strauchi.

Key: Alexander 1966 provided a key to the strauchi group (strauchi, bedriagae, aporus). 
EtymologyNamed after Alexander Strauch (1832-1893), Russian zoologist. 
References
  • Al-Jumaily, M.M. 1983. A new record of the amphisbaenian Blanus bedraigai Boulenger in Iraq. Bulletin of the Biological Research Centre, Scientific Research Foundation, Baghdad 5: 83–84
  • Alexander, A. ALLAN 1966. Taxonomy and variation of Blanus strauchi (Amphisbaenia, Reptilia). Copeia 1966 (2): 205-224 - get paper here
  • Avcı, Aziz; Nazan Üzüm, Emin Bozkurt, Kurtuluş Olgun 2018. The Uncommon Morphological Feature in Reptiles: Albinism in the Turkish Worm Lizard, Blanus strauchi (Bedriaga, 1884) (Amphisbaenia, Blanidae). Russ. J. Herpetol. 25 (2): 154-156 - get paper here
  • Baier, F.; Sparrow, D.J. & Wiedl, H.J. 2009. The Amphibians and Reptiles of Cyprus. Edition Chimaira, Frankfurt/M., ca. 370 pp.
  • Baran, I.; Kumlutas, Y.; Olgun, K.; Ilgaz, C. & Kaska, Y. 2001. The Herpetofauna of the Vicinity of Silifke. Turkish Journal of Zoology 25: 245-249 - get paper here
  • Bedriaga, J.v. 1884. Nachträgliche Bemerkung über Amphisbaena strauchi v. Bedr. Zool. Anz. 7: 346 - get paper here
  • Bedriaga, JAKOB VLADIMIROVIC 1884. Àmphisbaena cinerea Vand. und A. strauchi v. Bedr. Erster Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Doppelschleichen. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 50 (1): 23-77 - 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
  • Bird, C. G. 1936. The distribution of reptiles and amphibians in Asiatic Turkey with notes on a collection from the Vilayets of Adana, Gaziantep and Malatya. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (10) 18: 257-281. - get paper here
  • Bolet A, Delfino M, Fortuny J, Almécija S, Robles JM, et al. 2014. An Amphisbaenian Skull from the European Miocene and the Evolution of Mediterranean Worm Lizards. PLoS One 9 (6): e98082. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098082 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1884. Descriptions of new species of reptiles and batrachians in the British Museum. Part Il. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) 13: 396-398 - get paper here
  • BUDAK, Abidin; Cemal Varol TOK & Ahmet MERMER 1998. A Report on Reptiles Collected from Kumluca-Kalkan (Antalya), Turkey. Tr. J. of Zoology 22: 185-189
  • Edelman, Martin; Frank, Ronald 2005. Herpetologische en andere interessante waarnemingen in Turkije. Lacerta 63 (4): 166-172 - get paper here
  • Elzen, P. van den 1980. Zur Abwehrreaktion von Blanus strauchi aporus WERNER, 1898 (Reptilia: Sauria: Amphisbaenidae). Salamandra 16 (1): 52-56 - get paper here
  • Engelmann, W.E. et al. 1993. Lurche und Kriechtiere Europas. Neumann Verlag (Radebeul, Germany), 440 pp.
  • Gans, C., G.C. Huang & H.F. Clark 1967. The Diphyletism of the Amphisbaenia (Reptilia): A Re-Evaluation Based upon Chromosome Counts Copeia 1967 (2): 485-487. - get paper here
  • Göçmen, Bayram; Ahmad M. Disi and Mehmet Zülfü Yıldız 2008. On the occurrence of Blanus strauchi aporus Werner, 1898 and Chalcides guentheri Boulenger, 1887 (Reptilia) in the Mediterranean ecozone of Syria. Zoology in the Middle East 43: 69-74 - get paper here
  • Hraoui-Bloquet, S.; Sadek, R.A.; Sindaco, R. & Venchi, A. 2002. The herpetofauna of Lebanon: new data on distribution. Zoology in the Middle East 27: 35-46 - get paper here
  • Kasparek, M. 1990. Zur Herpetofauna des Beckens von Köycegiz, Türkei (Dalyan-Region). Salamandra 26 (2-3): 155-164 - get paper here
  • Kazilas, Christos; Konstantinos Kalaentzis, Ilias Strachinis 2018. A case of piebaldism in the Anatolian Worm Lizard, Blanus strauchi (Bedriaga, 1884), from Kastellorizo Island, Greece (Squamata: Blanidae). Herpetology Notes 11: 527-529 - get paper here
  • Kumlutas, Yusuf; Oz, Mehmet; Durmus, Hakan; Tunc, M. Rizvan; Ozdemir, Adem; Dusen, Serdar 2004. On some lizard species of the Western Taurus Range. Turkish Journal of Zoology 28:225-236 - get paper here
  • Kwet, A. 2010. Reptilien und Amphibien Europas. Kosmos-Verlag, Stuttgart, 252 pp.
  • Kwet, Axel & Benny Trapp 2014. Liste der Reptilien Europas. Draco 15 (60): 72-79 - get paper here
  • Kwet, Axel & Benny Trapp 2014. Reptilien der griechischen Ägäisinseln. Draco 15 (60): 58-65 - get paper here
  • LANGNER, C. 2019. Die Gattung Blanus - Doppelschleichen in Europa und rund ums Mittelmeer Elaphe 2019 (6): 22-27
  • Leviton,A.E.; Anderson,S.C.; Adler, K.; Minton,S.A. 1992. Handbook to Middle East Amphibians and Reptiles. SSAR, Oxford, Ohio (Contr. to Herpetol. No. 8), 1-252
  • Mertens, R., and L. Müller. 1940. Liste der Amphibien und Reptilien Europas. Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main. 451: 1-62 - get paper here
  • ÖZDEMÜR, Adem & Übrahim BARAN 2002. Research on the Herpetofauna of Murat Mountain (Kütahya-Usak). Turkish Journal of Zoology 26: 189-195 - get paper here
  • PAIVA, C., WINDEN, J. V. D., BOGAERTS, S., & COSTA, H. 2023. A review of chromatic anomalies in Blanus (Amphisbaenia: Blanidae) through citizen science records. Turkish Journal of Zoology, 47(5), 315-318
  • Şahin, M.K., Candan, K., Yildirim Caynak, E. et al. 2020. Ecological niche divergence contributes species differentiation in worm lizards (Blanus sp.) (Squamata: Amphisbaenia: Blanidae) in Mediterranean part of Anatolian peninsula and the Levantine region. Biologia (2020) - get paper here
  • Sampaio, Filipa L.; D. James Harris, Ana Perera and Daniele Salvi 2014. Phylogenetic and diversity patterns of Blanus worm lizards (Squamata: Amphisbaenia): insights from mitochondrial and nuclear gene genealogies and species tree. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research, DOI: 10.1111/jzs.12075 - get paper here
  • Schlüter, U. 2010. Der Herpetofauna von Symi [Griechenland]. Elaphe 18 (4): 62-67
  • Schmid, André 2016. Kos – herpetologische Beobachtungen in der östlichen Ägäis. Terraria-Elaphe 2016 (4): 26-32 - get paper here
  • Sindaco, R. & Jeremcenko, V.K. 2008. The reptiles of the Western Palearctic. Edizioni Belvedere, Latina (Italy), 579 pp. - get paper here
  • Sindaco, Roberto; Alberto Venchi, Giuseppe M. Carpaneto, Marco A. Bologna 2000. The Reptiles of Anatolia: a Checklist and Zoogeographical analysis. Biogeographia, 21-2000: 441-554. - get paper here
  • SINDACO, ROBERTO; PANAGIOTIS KORNILIOS, ROBERTO SACCHI & PETROS LYMBERAKIS 2014. Taxonomic reassessment of Blanus strauchi (Bedriaga, 1884) (Squamata: Amphisbaenia: Blanidae), with the description of a new species from south-east Anatolia (Turkey). Zootaxa 3795 (3): 311–326 - get paper here
  • TOK, C. V. & TOSUNOǦLU, M. & AYAZ, D. & ÇIÇEK, K. & MUTLU, H. S. 2011. New records of the Anatolian Worm Lizard, Blanus strauchi (BEDRIAGA, 1884), from Turkey. Herpetozoa 24: - get paper here
  • Tok, C.V. 1999. Resadiye (Datça) Yarımadası Kertenkeleleri Hakkında (Gekkonidae, Agamidae, Chamaeleonidae, Lacertidae, Scincidae, Amphisbaenidae). Tr. J. Zool. 23 (1): 157–175
  • Trapp, Benny 2016. Die Herpetofauna der griechischen Inseln. Terraria-Elaphe 2016 (4): 14-25 - get paper here
  • Vaconcelos, Raquel; Carretero, Miguel A.; Harris, D. James 2006. Phylogeography of the genus Blanus (worm lizards) in Iberia and Morocco based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers – preliminary analysis. Amphibia-Reptilia 27 (3): 339-346 - get paper here
  • Werner, FRANZ 1898. Über einige neue Reptilien und einen neuen Frosch aus dem cilicischen Taurus. Zool. Anz. 21 (555): 217-223. - get paper here
  • Westphal, N., Mahlow, K., Head, J. J., & Müller, J. 2019. Pectoral myology of limb-reduced worm lizards (Squamata, Amphisbaenia) suggests decoupling of the musculoskeletal system during the evolution of body elongation. BMC Evolutionary Biology 19(1): 16 - get paper here
  • Yildiz, M.Z., Akman, B., Göçmen, B. & Yalçinkaya, D. 2009. New locality records for the Turkish worm lizard, Blanus strauchi aporus (Werner, 1898) (Sauria: Amphisbaenidae) in Southeast Anatolia, Turkey. North-Western Journal of Zoology 5 (2): 379-385 - get paper here
 
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