Heath's worm lizard

{{Short description|Species of lizard}}

{{speciesbox

| status = NT

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = Silveira AL et al. (20 authors) (2021). "Amphisbaena heathi ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T75159959A154323741.en. Accessed on 20 January 2024.

| genus = Amphisbaena

| species = heathi

| authority = K.P. Schmidt, 1936{{EMBL species|genus=Amphisbaena|species=heathi}}. www.reptile-database.org.

}}

Heath's worm lizard (Amphisbaena heathi) is a species of amphisbaenian in the family Amphisbaenidae. The species is endemic to Brazil, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte.

Etymology

The specific name, heathi, is in honor of American malacologist Harold Heath.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. (Amphisbaena heathi, p. 119).

Diet

A. heathi feeds mainly on termites, ants, insect larvae, and cockroach nymphs, but will also eat earthworms, leeches, and centipedes.Lisboa, Carolina Maria Cardoso Aires; Sales, Raul Fernandes Dantas; Macêdo, Bruno Rafael Morais de; Freire, Eliza Maria Xavier (2016). "Diet of Amphisbaena heathi Schmidt, 1936 (Squamata: Amphisbaenidae) from Remnants of the Atlantic Forest, Northeastern Brazil, with Notes on Distribution, Diagnosis and Conservation". South American Journal of Herpetology 11 (1): 12-17.

Reproduction

A. heathi is oviparous. Eggs are laid during the dry season.

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Gans C (1965). "On Amphisbaena heathi Schmidt and A. carvalhoi, new species, small forms from the northeast of Brazil (Amphisbaenia: Reptilia)". Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series 31 (23): 613–630.
  • Gans C (2005). "Checklist and Bibliography of the Amphisbaenia of the World". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History (289): 1–130. (Amphisbaena heathi, p. 14).
  • Oliveira, Cícero Ricardo de; Roberto, Igor Joventino; Sousa, José Guilherme Gonçalves de; Ávila, Robson Waldemar (2019). "On the ecology of Amphisbaena heathi (Squamata: Amphisbaenidae) from Northeastern Brazil". Herpetological Review 50 (1): 62–66.
  • Schmidt KP (1936). "Notes on Brazilian Amphisbaenians". Herpetologica 1 (1): 28–32. (Amphisbaena heathi, new species).
  • Vanzolini PE (2002). "An aid to the identification of the South American species of Amphisbaena (Squamata, Amphisbaenidae)". Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo 42 (15): 351–362.

{{Taxonbar|from=Q2844322}}

heathi

Category:Amphisbaenians of Brazil

Category:Endemic reptiles of Brazil

Category:Reptiles described in 1936

Category:Taxa named by Karl Patterson Schmidt

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