Florida Worm Lizard (Rhineura floridana)
Description: R. floridana varies in total length (including tail) from 7–12 inches. The head has a shovel-like snout that projects forward past the lower jaws, which is used for burrowing. The eyes are highly reduced and not visible externally. The limbs are absent and, as in other Amphisbaenia, the body is covered by scales arranged in rings giving the animal a worm-like appearance.
Habitat: The preferred natural habitats of R. floridana are forest and shrubland.
Range: This species is endemic to the southeastern United States. Its range includes northern and central Florida and a small part of Georgia, encompassing a total of 28 Florida counties from Highlands County in the south-central Florida peninsula north to Lanier County, Georgia. The distribution in Georgia includes only one known location.
Found in these States:
FL |
GA
Diet: The diet of R. floridana includes insects and earthworms, but it is an opportunistic feeder and will eat almost any invertebrate small enough to catch.
Reproduction: Reproduction in R. floridana is by laying eggs (oviparity).
Status: R. floridana is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Species are listed as such due to their wide distribution, presumed large population, or because it is unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category. The population trend is stable.
»» Kingdom: Animalia - Animals
»» Phylum: Chordata - Chordates
»» Subphylum: Vertebrata - Vertebrates
»» Class: Reptilia - Reptiles
»» Order: Squamata - Lizards
»» Family: Rhineuridae - Worm Lizards
»» Genus: Rhineura
»» Species: Rhineura floridana - Florida Worm Lizard
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rhineura floridana", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0. Content may have been omitted from the original, but no content has been changed or extended.
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