Moroccan worm lizard

Moroccan Worm Lizard
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Reptilia
Order:Squamata
Family:Blanidae
Genus:Blanus
Species: B. mettetali
Binomial name
Blanus mettetali
Bons, 1963
Synonyms
  • Blanus cinereus mettetali
    Bons, 1963
  • Blanus mettetali
    — Busack, 1988[1]

The Moroccan worm lizard (Blanus mettetali) is a species of reptiles in the family Blanidae. The species is endemic to Morocco.[2]

Etymology

The specific name, mettetali, is in honor of a Mr. Mettetal who was head of the Laboratory of Animal Biology, Faculty of Sciences of Morocco.[3]

Habitat

The natural habitats of B. mettetali are temperate forests, temperate shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, arable land, and pastureland.

Conservation status

B. mettetali is threatened by habitat loss.

References

  1. ↑ "Blanus mettetali ". The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  2. ↑ Busack, Stephen D. (5 February 1988). "Biochemical and Morphological Differentiation in Spanish and Moroccan Populations of Blanus and the Description of a New Species from Northern Morocco (Reptilia, Amphisbaenia, Amphisbaenidae)". Copeia. 1988 (1): 101–109. doi:10.2307/1445928. JSTOR 1445928.
  3. ↑ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael. 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Blanus mettetali, p. 177).

Further reading

  • Bons, J. 1963. "Notes sur Blanus cinereus (Vandelli), description d'une sous-espèce Marocaine: Blanus cinereus mettetali ssp. nov." Bulletin de la Société des Sciences naturelles et physiques du Maroc (1-2): 95-107.

Phylogeographical patterns

  • Albert, E.M.; Zardoya, R.; García-París, M. (2007). "Phylogeographical and speciation patterns in subterranean worm lizards of the genus Blanus (Amphisbaenia: Blanidae)". Molecular Ecology. 16 (7): 1519–1531. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03248.x. ISSN 0962-1083. PMID 17391273.
  • Vaconcelos, Raquel; Harris, D. James; Carretero, Miguel (2006). "Phylogeography of the genus Blanus (worm lizards) in Iberia and Morocco based on mitochondrial and nuclear markers — preliminary analysis". Amphibia-Reptilia. 27 (3): 339–346. doi:10.1163/156853806778190033. ISSN 0173-5373.


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