Zygaspis vandami (FITZSIMONS, 1930)
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Zygaspis vandami
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| Higher Taxa | Amphisbaenidae, Amphisbaenia, Lacertoidea, Squamata (lizards) |
| Subspecies | Zygaspis vandami vandami (FITZSIMONS 1930) Zygaspis vandami arenicola BROADLEY & BROADLEY 1997 |
| Common Names | Van Dam’s Dwarf Worm Lizard arenicola: Sand-dwelling Dwarf Worm Lizard |
| Synonym | Amphisbaena vandami FITZSIMONS 1930 Zygaspis violacea vandami — FITZSIMONS 1943: 380 Zygaspis violacea vandami — LOVERIDGE 1951 Zygaspis violacea vandami — WELCH 1982: 12 Zygaspis vandami vandami — BROADLEY & BROADLEY 1997 Zygaspis vandami — GANS 2005: 39 Zygaspis vandami — BATES et al. 2014: 157 Zygaspis vandami arenicola BROADLEY & BROADLEY 1997 Amphisbaena violacea PETERS 1854: 620 (part.) Zygaspis violacea — WEVER & GANS 1973: 190 (part.) Zygaspis arenicola — GANS 2005: 38 Zygaspis vandami arenicola — BATES & MAGUIRE 2009 Zygaspis arenicola — BATES 2018 |
| Distribution | South Africa (Northern and Mpumalanga Provinces) arenicola: Mozambique plain south of the Save River, SE Zimbabwe, N KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Type locality: Maputo, Mozambique. Type locality: Louw’s Creek, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: DNMNH (= TM) (Transvaal Museum) Holotype: DNMNH (= TM) 2921, paratype: PEM R10382 (formerly TMP 3001 and re-catalogued as AMG 2626) [arenicola] |
| Diagnosis | DESCRIPTION. Snout rounded, prominent; rostral moderate, triangular; a nasals forming a suture behind rostral; followed by a pair of large pre-frontals, a pair of frontals and a pair of narrow occipitals; suture between pre-frontals and frontals about equal in length, but slightly longer than suture between nasals; temporals six on either side, arranged in two semi-vertical rows of three, largest superiorly and smallest inferiorly; superiormost temporal of anterior row largest, lying between frontal and third labial, just behind ocular; three upper labials, anterior smallest, posterior by far the largest; ocular moderate, eye distinct; no infra-ocular, the ocular forming a suture with second and third labials; mental trapezoidal in shape, followed by a large median pentagonal to heptagonal chin shield, and a pair of smaller chin shields with median suture; three lower labials, second very large; two chin shields on either side, the anterior in contact with second and third labials. About 196 annuli on body, and 49 to 50 on tail; each annulus contains 16 dorsal and 16 ventral segments; the two median ventral segments broader than the others. Lateral line, separating dorsal and ventral segments, distinct. Four, well-defined, much enlarged anal segments and four pre-anal pores. (FITZSIMONS 1930) COLOUR. (Spirit specimen.) Dull purple above; lighter below, with scattered whitish segments. (FITZSIMONS 1930) |
| Comment | Eastern race of Z. vandami. Has been treated as synonym of Zygaspis violacea (e.g. LOVERIDGE 1941). Sympatric with Z. quadrifrons in the N Krüger National Park. Habitat: Z. v. vandami FitzSimons usually under stones or logs on sandy or humus-rich soils along the eastern escarpment of South Africa, while Z. v. arenicola is found in alluvial sands on the Mozambique Plain, extending into north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, north-eastern Swaziland, and inland to the Cretaceous sands of south-eastern Zimbabwe (Jacobsen 1989, as Z. violacea; Broadley & Broadley 1997; Litschka, Koen & Monadjem 2008). Typically, Zygaspis v. vandami has discrete anterior and posterior temporals, and anterior and posterior post-supralabials, as well as two postoculars, whereas Z. v. arenicola typically has the temporals and post-supralabials all fused into a single large shield, with a single elongated postocular (Broadley & Broadley 1997). While there is some variation to this head shield arrangement, most specimens of Z. v. arenicola exhibit considerable scale reduction (Broadley & Broadley 1997). |
| Etymology | named after the collector of the types, G.P.F. van Dam, Esq. |
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