Monopeltis leonhardi WERNER, 1910
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Monopeltis leonhardi
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| Higher Taxa | Amphisbaenidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Sauria, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Kalahari Worm Lizard |
| Synonym | Monopeltis leonhardi WERNER 1910: 328 Monopeltis vernayi FITZSIMONS 1932: 36 Monopeltis leonhardi — FITZSIMONS & BRAIN 1958 Monopeltis leonhardi — AUERBACH 1987: 139 Monopeltis leonhardi — GANS 2005: 36 Monopeltis leonhardi — BATES et al. 2014: 154 Monopeltis leonhardi — STANDER 2023: 72 |
| Distribution | Namibia, C Botswana, SW Zimbabwe (extending along Limpopo River to Kruger National Park), Republic of South Africa (Cape Province) Type locality: ‘‘Kalahari, zwischen Kgokong und Kang’’, Botswana. |
| Reproduction | |
| Types | Holotype: ZMB 23201 |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: A medium-sized (200 to 290 mm. snout-vent length in adults) species of Monopeltis with the dorsal surface heavily pigmented from nape to tail tip and this coloration extending below the lateral sulcus. The species has 170 to 213 body, three or four (rarely five to seven) lateral, and five to nine caudal annuli (up to the bluntly rounded tip), 17 to 34 dorsal plus 14 to 27 ventral segments to a midbody annulus, and two to four (usually four) first and three to 11 second postgenial segments. The azygous head shields are paired, the ocular being wedged between them. There are no preoculars. The nasals are short and do not contact the oculars, the lip, or each other. There are four to seven (usually six) parietal shields. The pectoral zone is rectangular and the sutures between the six (very rarely four) shields are parallel. They correspond to four dorsal body annuli, except when the lateral ones are broken up. The ventral segments of the prepectoral annulus are slightly enlarged but not involved in the pectoral shields. The lateral sulci are clearly expressed, but neither dorsal nor ventral sulci are obvious. Diagonal folding lines occur. There are two to 22 supernumerary dorsal half-annuli, most of these corresponding to the first 50 body annuli. The dorsal interannular sutures cross the body at right angles to its long axis. There are no precloacal pores. No autotomy occurs. Additional details (3505 characters) are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. |
| Comment | Synonymy that of BROADLEY et al. (1976). Listed as synonym of M. anchietae by Loveridge 1941: 410. Reference images: see Uetz et al. 2024 for high-resolution reference images for this species. |
| Etymology | Named after Dr. Leonhard Schultze-Jena (1872-1955), a German geographer, zoologist, botanist, philologist, and ethnographer. He was Professor of Geography at Philipps-Universität Marburg (1913-1937) who travelled to New Guinea and Central America. |
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