Spade-Headed Wormlizards: Trogonophidae - Physical Characteristics, Diet, Behavior And Reproduction, No Common Name (agamodon Anguliceps): Species Account - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, SPADE-HEADED WORM LIZARDS AND PEOPLE, CONSERVATION STATUS
somalia loose east loamy
They live in northern Africa, in eastern Somalia, and in the Middle East from western Iran to the island of Socotra, which lies east of Somalia and south of Saudi Arabia.
Spade-headed wormlizards tunnel in loose soils, which may be sandy or loamy. A loamy soil is one that is not quite as grainy as sand but still is quite loose.
Although people rarely see these wormlizards, they may be helpful to people because they eat pest insects such as ants and termites that might damage the wood in buildings or cause other problems for people.
These species are not considered endangered or threatened, but scientists know little about them in the wild.
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At first glance, the spade-headed wormlizards look like big earthworms. Just as earthworms have rings around their bodies, these wormlizards have thin rings from the back of the head to the tip of the tail. Such rings are called annuli (ANN-youlie). In the spade-headed wormlizards, the rings are made of tiny square-shaped scales that are the same size and shape from the belly to the back. Also lik…
Most of the spade-headed wormlizards eat termites, grubs, and ants. Grubs are actually young beetles, which are also known as beetle larvae (LAR-vee). When the grubs are old enough, they go through another life stage called pupae (PYU-pee) and then turn into the adult crawling beetles familiar to most people. Wormlizards in captivity will also eat larger animals by biting off chunks and chewing th…
These wormlizards move oddly when they are tunneling. Instead of forcing their heads forward into the soil, they turn their heads up on one side and then up on the other, scraping the sharp sides of the face in this back-and-forth swiveling motion, and scrape away dirt. Just as twisting an apple corer will cause the corer to cut into and through an apple, swiveling the head of one of these wormliz…
Physical characteristics: Agamodon anguliceps has a short shovel-shaped head and a sharp-sided face. Its back is mottled with yellow and dark brown to brownish purple blotches, and its underside is pink to purplish pink. Its tiny squarish scales form rings around its body. It grows to about 4 to 8 inches (10 to 18 centimeters) in length. Geographic range: This species lives in eastern Ethiopia and…
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