South-western Sandplain Worm Lizard Aprasia repens

Family Typhlopidae

Harmless

An adult is approx 100mm long from snout to vent not including the tail which is shorter than its body length.

The hindlimbs on a worm lizard are only a single scale.

They become active just on sunset or at night in warmer weather.

All worm lizards are harmless.  They may excrete a horrible odour from their anal glands but this one didn't.

They have a blunt tail that can drop like skinks.
  Here you can see it has re-growen its tail tip.

This worm lizard was found in my veg'y garden in Perth.

They live in dry eucalypt forests, around granite outcrops and on coastal sands of the south-west of WA and in the wheatbelt of WA.

Shelters in the sand beneath rocks or logs.  In my veg'y garden it shelters in the sand and under the bark from a eucalypt tree.

These legless lizards can have a yellow chin

Lays 2 parchment shelled eggs per clutch.

Worm lizards don't have an ear opening that you can see it is covered by a scale.

What does it eat? 

It forages in leaf litter and pushes through the sand in search for small invertebrates, larvae, ant pupae and eggs.  This one here was found in my garden.

Text;
"Australian Reptiles A Photographic Reference to the Terrestrial Reptiles of Australia" by Stephen K Wilson, David G Knowles.
"Reptiles and Frogs of the Perth Region" by Brian Bush, Brad Maryan, Robert Browne-Cooper and David Robinson.

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