The Sierra Leone worm lizard (''Cynisca degrysi'') is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
amphisbaenia
Amphisbaenia (called amphisbaenians or worm lizards) is a group of typically legless lizards, comprising over 200 extant species. Amphisbaenians are characterized by their long bodies, the reduction or loss of the limbs, and rudimentary eyes. A ...
n in the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Amphisbaenidae
The Amphisbaenidae (common name: worm lizards) are a Family (biology), family of amphisbaenians, a group of limbless vertebrates. There are 12 genera, containing 183 species.
Geographic range
Amphisbaenids occur in South America, some Caribbean ...
. The species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...
.
Etymology
The
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
, ''degrysi'', is in honor of German zoologist
Pedro de Grys.
[ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (''Cynisca degrysi'', p. 68).]
Description
''C. degrysi'' is pale brown
dorsally
Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provi ...
, and white ventrally. The
holotype
A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...
has a
snout-to-vent length (SVL) of and a tail length of .
[
]
Reproduction
''C. degrysi'' is oviparous
Oviparous animals are animals that reproduce by depositing fertilized zygotes outside the body (i.e., by laying or spawning) in metabolically independent incubation organs known as eggs, which nurture the embryo into moving offsprings kno ...
.[
]
References
Further reading
* Gans C (2005). "Checklist and Bibliography of the Amphisbaenia of the World". ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' (289): 1–130. (''Cynisca degrysi'', p. 28).
* Loveridge A (1941). "Revision of the African Lizards icof the Family Amphisbaenidae". ''Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy at Harvard College'' 87 (5): 353–451. (''Placogaster degrysi'', new species, p. 400).
Cynisca (lizard)
Reptiles described in 1941
Taxa named by Arthur Loveridge
Endemic fauna of Sierra Leone
{{Amphisbaenidae-stub