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Chirindia swynnertoni BOULENGER, 1907

IUCN Red List - Chirindia swynnertoni - Least Concern, LC
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Higher TaxaAmphisbaenidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Swynnerton's Worm Lizard 
SynonymChirindia swynnertoni BOULENGER 1907: 48
Amphisbaenula orientalis STERNFELD 1911: 246 (fide BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991)
Chirindia bushbyi COTT 1934
Amphisbaena swynnertoni — FITZSIMONS 1943: 382
Amphisbaena bushbyi — FITZSIMONS 1943: 383
Amphisbaena orientalis — LOVERIDGE 1957
Chirindia orientalis — GANS 1967
Chirindia orientalis — GANS & RHODES 1967
Chirindia swynnertoni — BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991: 19
Chirindia orientalis — GANS 2005: 27
Chirindia swynnertoni — GANS 2005: 27
Chirindia swynertoni — MEASEY & TOLLEY 2013: 105 (in error)
Chirindia swynnertoni — SPAWLS et al. 2018: 322 
DistributionZimbabwe, S Mozambique, Tanzania

Type locality: Chirinda Forest, Zimbabwe.
Type locality: Mikindani, Southern Province, Tanzania [Amphisbaenula orientalis]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: BMNH 1907.7.2.3:RR1946.8.2.36.
Holotype: BMNH [bushbyi]
Syntypes: ZMB 22067, ZMB 24408, ZMB 22409, ZMB 22407, BMNH 1946.8.2.18, MCZ 21904 (7 specimens) [orientalis] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): “Distinguished from Amphisbaena by the absence of an ocular shield, the eye being situated under the posterior part of a large shield (nasal + labial + praefrontal + ocular) covering each side of the snout, and by the absence of preanal pores. Teeth very small.” (from BOULENGER 1907).


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CommentSynonymy: Broadley & Gans (1978) synonymized Chirindia bushbyi with Chirindia swynnertoni. BROADLEY & HOWELL 1991 synonymized Amphisbaenula orientalis STERNFELD 1911 with Chirindia swynnertoni without justification, but GANS 2005 listed Chirindia orientalis as a valid species, also without justification.

Key: For a key to the species of Chirindia see Broadley 1978: 46.

Type species: Chirindia swynnertoni is the type species of the genus Chirindia BOULENGER 1907.

Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. 
EtymologyNamed after Charles Francis Massy Swynnerton (1877-1938), principally an entomologist.

The genus was named after Ndau Chirinda, place of refuge; today Chirinda Forest Botanical Reserve, on the slopes of Mount Selinda, Zimbabwe + Latin -ia, dedicative suffix. [“…In November last I had the pleasure of drawing attention … to the Chirinda Forest in S.E. Mashonaland … I remarked that its reptile and batrachian fauna, when explored, was likely to afford further startling additions to South-African herpetology…”]. 
References
  • Bates, Michael F. 2018. Catalogue of reptiles from Mozambique in the collection of the National Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Indago 34 (2): 135–147
  • 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. 1907. Second report on the reptiles and batrachians collected in South Africa by Mr. C.H.B. Grant, and presented to the British Museum by Mr. C.D. Rudd. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1907: 478-487 - get paper here
  • Boulenger,G.A. 1907. Description of a new toad and a new amphisbaenid from Mashonaland. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (7) 20: 47-49 - get paper here
  • Branch, W.R.; Rödel, M.-O. & Marais, J. 2005. Herpetological survey of the Niassa Game Reserve, northern Mozambique - Part I: Reptiles. Salamandra 41 (4): 195-214 - get paper here
  • Broadley D G; Gans C 1978. Southern forms of Chirindia (Amphisbaenia, Reptilia). Annals of the Carnegie Museum 47 (3): 29-51 - get paper here
  • Broadley, D. G. & HOWELL, K. M. 1991. A check list of the reptiles of Tanzania, with synoptic keys. Syntarsus 1: 1—70
  • Buruwate, T. C., & Lloyd-Jones, D. J. 2024. Amphibian and Reptile Diversity of Niassa Special Reserve, Northern Mozambique. Journal of East African Natural History, 113(1), 1-18 - get paper here
  • Cott, HUGH 1934. The Zoological Society's expedition to the Zambesi, 1927. No. 5. On a collection of lizards, mainly from East Africa, with description of new species of Zonurus, Monopeltis, and Chirindia. Proc. Zool. Soc. London (no. 5): 145-173. - get paper here
  • FitzSimons, V.F. 1943. The lizards of South Africa. Transvaal Museum Memoir No.1 (Pretoria), 528 pp.
  • Gans, C. 2005. CHECKLIST AND BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE AMPHISBAENIA OF THE WORLD. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 289: 1-130 - get paper here
  • Gans, Carl; Rhodes, Charlyn 1967. Chirindia from Tanganyika (Amphibaenia, Reptilia). Annals of the Carnegie Museum 39 (1): 1-32 - get paper here
  • Loveridge, A. 1957. Check list of the reptiles and amphibians of east Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar). Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard 117 (2): 153-362 - get paper here
  • Measey, John & Krystal A. Tolley 2013. A molecular phylogeny for sub-Saharan amphisbaenians. African Journal of Herpetology 62 (2): 100-108 - get paper here
  • Spawls, S.; Howell, K.; Drewes, R.C. & Ashe, J. 2002. A field guide to the reptiles of East Africa. Academic Press, 543 pp. [reviews in HR 34: 396 and Afr. J. Herp. 51; 147] - get paper here
  • Spawls, Steve; Kim Howell, Harald Hinkel, Michele Menegon 2018. Field Guide to East African Reptiles. Bloomsbury, 624 pp. - get paper here
  • Sternfeld, R. 1911. Zur Reptilien-Fauna Deutsch-Ostafrikas. Sitzungsber. Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin 1911: 244-251 - 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
 
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