Iberian worm lizard

An Iberian worm lizard B. cinereus with a human finger for scale The Iberian worm lizard, Mediterranean worm lizard, or European worm lizard (Blanus cinereus) is a species of reptile in the family Blanidae (worm lizards) of the clade Amphisbaenia. The Iberian worm lizard is locally known as cobra-cega (Portuguese), culebrilla ciega (Spanish), and colobreta cega (Catalan), all meaning "blind snake". Recent studies into the mitochondrial and nuclear genomic data of 47 isolated B. cinereus populations show rather large sequence divergence between two apparent clades, leading some researchers to call for a division of the Iberian worm lizard into two species. While little is known of B. cinereus in comparison with some other reptile species, new insight is growing about this primitive, ancestral reptile.

Geographic range