''Chirindia'' is a genus of Amphisbaenia, amphisbaenians in the Family (biology), family Amphisbaenidae. Commonly known as pink round-headed worm lizards, species in the genus ''Chirindia'' are native to East Africa and southern Africa, from Tanzania to South Africa. They are unpigmented worm lizards with rounded heads, and extensive fusion of the head shields.

Description

''Chirindia'' are small and slender. For example, the holotype of ''C. swynnertoni'' is long, with the tail , and the body is in diameter. They are uniformly, unpigmented flesh-coloured, tinged with purplish, and have minute teeth. They usually lack an ocular shield, and each eye is situated under the posterior part of a large fused shield, that combines the nasal, second and sometimes first upper labial, prefrontal and sometimes the ocular shield into one, so as to cover all of one side of the snout. (''Chirindia'', new genus, p. 48; ''C. swynnertoni'', new species, pp. 48-49). The pair of large shields, fused with the ocular to cover each side of the snout, combined with a small azygous rostral shield, are comparable to that of genus ''Placogaster'' of the Senegambia Confederation, Senegambia, but the paired ventral shields, and absence of pre-anal pores in some species distinguish them.

Behaviour and predators

Species in the genus ''Chirindia'' burrow in loose soil and feed on termites. They are present in clay, sandy or alluvial soils, and sometimes find refuge under stones and rotten logs. They are Predation, preyed on by jackals, honey badger, ratels, kingfishers and snakes, of which some, like the dwarf wolf snake (''Lycophidion nanum''), are specialized to prey on them.

Species and subspecies

The genus ''Chirindia'' contains five valid species, some of which have recognized subspecies. *''Chirindia ewerbecki'' – Mbanja worm lizard **''Chirindia ewerbecki ewerbecki'' **''Chirindia ewerbecki nanguruwensis'' *''Chirindia langi'' – Herbert Lang, Lang's worm lizardspecies:Bo Beolens, Beolens, Bo; species:Michael Watkins, Watkins, Michael; species:Michael Grayson, Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Chirindia langi'', p. 150; ''C. swynnertoni'', p. 259). **''Chirindia langi langi'' **''Chirindia langi occidentalis'' – Soutpansberg worm lizard *''Chirindia mpwapwaensis'' – Mpwapwa worm lizard *''Chirindia rondoensis'' – Nchingidi worm lizard * ''Chirindia swynnertoni'' – Charles Francis Massy Swynnerton, Swynnerton's worm lizard ''Nota bene'': A Binomial nomenclature, binomial authority or Trinomen, trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species or subspecies was originally described in a genus other than ''Chirindia''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q39012 Chirindia, Lizards of Africa Lizard genera Taxa named by George Albert Boulenger