Turkish worm lizard

The Turkish worm lizard (Blanus strauchi) is a species of amphisbaenian in the family Blanidae. The species is native to Southeast Europe and the Middle East. There are two recognized subspecies.

Turkish worm lizard
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Family:	Blanidae
Genus:	Blanus
Species:	B. strauchi
Binomial name
Blanus strauchi (Bedriaga, 1884)
Synonyms[2]
Amphisbaena strauchi Bedriaga, 1884 Blanus strauchi — Engelmann et al., 1993

Etymology

The specific name, strauchi, is in honor of Russian herpetologist Alexander Strauch.[3]

Geographic range

B. strauchi is found in Greece, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.[2]

Habitat

The preferred natural habitat of B. strauchi is shrubland, at altitudes from sea level to 1,400 m (4,600 ft).[1]

Reproduction

B. strauchi is oviparous.[2]

Subspecies

Two subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.

• Blanus strauchi bedriagae Boulenger, 1884
• Blanus strauchi strauchi (Bedriaga, 1884)

Nota bene: A trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Blanus.

References

1. Lymberakis P, Tok V, Ugurtas IH, Sevinç M, Disi AMM, Hraoui-Bloquet S, Sadek R, Werner Y, Kaska Y, Kumlutas Y, Avci A, Üzüm N (2009). "Blanus strauchi ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009: e.T157272A5067037. https://doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2009.RLTS.T157272A5067037.en. Downloaded on 05 April 2019.
2. Blanus strauchi at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 24 February 2019.
3. Beolens B, Watkins M, Grayson M (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Blanus strauchi, p. 256).

Further reading

• Bedriaga J (1884). "Amphisbaena cinerea Vand. und A. Strauchi v. Bedr., Erster Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Doppelschleichen ". Archiv für Naturgeschichte 50 (1): 23–41. (Amphisbaena strauchi, new species, pp. 35–41, Figures 4–6). (in German).
• Bedriaga J (1884). "Nachträgliche Bemerkung über Amphisbaena Strauchi v. Bedr." Zoologischer Anzeiger 7: 346. (in German).
• Boulenger GA (1884). "Descriptions of new Species of Reptiles in the British Museum.—Part II." Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Fifth Series 13: 396–398. (Blanus bedriagae, new species, p. 396).
• Sindaco R, Jeremčenko VK (2008). The Reptiles of the Western Palearctic. 1. Annotated Checklist and Distributional Atlas of the Turtles, Crocodiles, Amphisbaenians and Lizards of Europe, North Africa, Middle East and Central Asia. (Monographs of the Societas Herpetologica Italica). Latina, Italy: Edizioni Belvedere. 580 pp. ISBN 978-88-89504-14-7.