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Van Dam's Round-headed Worm Lizard
Zygaspis vandami
Van Dam's dwarf worm lizard (Zygaspis vandami), also known commonly as the sand-dwelling dwarf worm lizard and Van Dam's round-headed worm lizard, is a species of amphisbaenian in the family Amphisbaenidae. The species is native to southern Africa. There are two recognized subspecies.
From the article Van Dam's dwarf worm lizard on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
One of the smaller species in its genus, Z. vandami usually has a snout-to-vent length (SVL) of 13–17 cm (5.1–6.7 in). The maximum recorded SVL is 18.5 cm (7.3 in). It is uniformly dark purplish brown dorsally, and light purple ventrally. The chin and the anal area are white.
Range & habitat
The preferred natural habitats of Z. vandami are sand, sandy-soils, and humus-rich soils.
Wikipedia: “Habitat”
In human culture
The specific name, vandami, is in honor of South African Herpetologist Gerhardus Petrus Frederick Van Dam (died 1927).
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Zygaspis vandami in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 31741.