Vanderyst worm lizard

Vanderyst worm lizard
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Lacertoidea
Clade:	Amphisbaenia
Family:	Amphisbaenidae
Genus:	Monopeltis
Species:	M. vanderysti
Binomial name
	Monopeltis vanderysti; de Witte, 1922
Synonyms
	Monopeltis vanderysti ; de Witte, 1922; Monopeltis lujae ; de Witte, 1922; Monopeltis vanderysti vilhenai ; Laurent, 1954; Monopeltis vanderysti closei ; Laurent, 1954; Monopeltis vanderysti ; — Broadley, Gans & Visser, 1976;

The Vanderyst worm lizard (Monopeltis vanderysti), also known commonly as Vanderyst's worm lizard, is a species of amphisbaenian in the family Amphisbaenidae. The species is native to Central Africa. There are two recognized subspecies.

Etymology

The specific name, vanderysti, is in honor of Father Hyacinth Julien Robert Vanderyst (1860–1934), who was a missionary and naturalist in the Belgian Congo.^[4]

The preferred natural habitat of M. vanderysti is savanna, but it has also been found in agricultural plantations.^[1]

M. vanderysti is terrestrial and fossorial.^[1]

Two subspecies are recognized as being valid, including the nominotypical subspecies.^[2]

The mode of reproduction of M. vanderysti is unknown.^[2]

^ ^a ^b ^c Kusamba C (2021). "Monopeltis vanderysti ". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-2.RLTS.T120685398A120907443.en. Accessed on 05 December 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Monopeltis vanderysti at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 24 February 2019.
^ Broadley, Gans & Visser (1976).
^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. (Monopeltis vanderysti, p. 272).

Broadley DG, Gans C, Visser J (1976). "Studies on Amphisbaenians (Amphisbaenia, Reptilia). 6. The Genera Monopeltis and Dalophia in Southern Africa ". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 157: 311–486. (Monopeltis vanderysti, pp. 431–437, Figures 98–102).
de Witte G-F (1922). "Description de reptiles nouveaux du Congo Belge". Revue de Zoologie Africaine 10 (2): 66–71 + Plates I–II. (Monopeltis vanderysti, new species, pp. 66–67 + Plate I, figures 1, 1A, 1B, 1C; M. lujae, new species, pp. 67–68 + Plate I, figures 2, 2A, 2B, 2C). (in French).
Gans C (2005). "Checklist and Bibliography of the Amphisbaenia of the World". Bull. American Mus. Nat. Hist. (289): 1–130. (Monopeltis vanderysti, p. 37).