Aprasia

Abstract: We dissected 615 preserved specimens of eight species of wormlike burrowing pygopodid lizards of the genus Aprasia, to document the basic natural history of this poorly known Australian taxon. Females grow larger than males but are less common in museum collections. At least four species were found to be oviparous, with each female producing two eggs per clutch. Reproductive cycles of both sexes are highly seasonal in A. pulchella and A. repens (with oviposition in summer) but apparently aseasonal in A. striolata. The diet of Aprasia consists almost entirely (>95%) of the larvae and pupae of ants of several genera. Aprasia consume large numbers of prey items in a single meal but may feed only infrequently and only in warmer months of the year. Larger A. repens consumed larger prey, but there was no evidence of sex-based differences in prey type or prey size despite the presence of significant dentitional dimorphism in this species. Overall, our data emphasizes the remarkable diversity of dietary habits within the pygopodid lizards, especially relative to the general conservatism of other gekkotan lizards in this regard. In several significant features of their morphology and trophic ecology, Aprasia are more similar to sympatric typhlopid snakes than they are to confamilial lizards.

Abstract: The worm lizard genus Aprasia is a distinct group of morphologically conservative, fossorial pygopodids. Current knowledge of their taxonomy is incomplete, particularly in Western Australia where they are most diverse. Recent biological surveys in Western Australia, using fenced pitfall traplines, combined with active searching near Dongara and on the two largest islands in the Houtman Abrolhos (East and West Wallabi) found three specimens of a very small Aprasia that were tentatively referable to A. repens. As such, they represented an additional species to the herpetofauna of the remote Abrolhos Archipelago. We further investigated these specimens by carrying out an analysis of allozyme and morphological variation in the A. repens species-group. We found the three specimens to be conspecifi c with each other yet distinct from all described species. The new species is closest genetically to A. repens, but in morphology is most similar to A. haroldi. Aprasia clairae sp. nov. differs from all other Aprasia by a conservative suite of morphological characters and by multiple fi xed allozyme differences. We also make remarks on the conservation status of the new species and other unresolved taxonomic issues within Aprasia.

Abstract: relatively rare in collections. The family Pygopodidae, as currently conceived, contains eight genera most of which are monospecific. These lizards are snake-like in appearance. They have well developed scales, the eyes lack movable eyelids, and the forelimbs are absent. The hindlimbs are present as small rudiments in most pygopodids, but both fore- and hindlimbs are absent in Aprasia. The tail is elongate in most forms but relatively short in Aprasia. There is evidence that, despite the elongation of the body and reduction of limbs, most pygopodids are surface-living forms rather than burrowers. Members of the Pygopodidae are not found beyond the limits of the Australia-New Guinea-Tasmanian region. The family Amphisbaenidae contains some twenty genera of lizards which show considerably greater specialization than the pygopodids in skull characters, body musculature and various other features. All appear to be active burrowers, many living exclusively in ant and termite nests. The body is covered with a soft skin, forming numerous rings which give it a worm-like appearance. The eyes are vestigial and partially concealed beneath the skin. The external ear opening has been lost, the tail is extremely short, and both fore- and hindlimbs are absent in all but one genus. This genus, Bipes, has rudimentary forelimbs but has lost the hindlimbs. The amphisbaenids are noteworthy in that the right lung is lost or rudimentary. Snakes and other elongate lizards which have reduced lungs all show reduction of the left lung. The Amphisbaenidae are found throughout the tropics except in Australasia, the Oriental region, and Madagascar. In early attempts at classification of the reptiles there was often a tendency to lump together such specialized elongate forms and to regard them as closely related. It was soon realized, however, that this particular habitus has been developed independently in a number of groups and that a careful search for characters of phylogenetic significance is necessary to reveal the true relationships. Camp (1923), who has made the most comprehensive attempt to evaluate lacertilian morphology from this point of