Pink-tailed Worm-lizard (Aprasia parapulchella)
Description
- The Pink-tailed Worm-lizard is a small worm-like legless lizard with a slender body, a blunt head and a long round-tipped pinkish tail.
- Its body is grey, grey-brown, or brown, with a dark brown to black head. They have no front limbs and very small back limbs.
- Adults can reach 24 cm in length.
- It’s an unusual species because it lives in the burrows of ant nests, where it feeds on the eggs and larvae of ants within these nests.
- It’s rarely seen and can be very difficult to find, even when known to be present at a site.
Find out more about the Pink-tailed Worm-lizard on Canberra NatureMapr.
Where to find them
The species is found along the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range..
In the ACT, the lizard can be found:
- along the slopes of the Molonglo and Murrumbidgee River corridors
- Mount Taylor
- Cooleman Ridge
- Urambi Hills
- The Pinnacle
- Mount Stromlo.
Conservation threats
Key threats to the Pink-tailed Worm-lizard include:
- rock removal
- weeds
- urban development
- inappropriate fire and burning practices
- build-up of vegetation or leaf litter that covers rocks.
Conservation status
- National – Vulnerable (Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999).
- Australian Capital Territory – Vulnerable (Nature Conservation Act 2014).
Conservation actions
Conservation actions aim to:
- protect their habitat from development impacts
- manage key weed species
- manage natural vegetation regrowth to maintain open rocky habitat
- manage activities such as grazing and slashing appropriately
- minimise disturbance to the habitat from recreational activities
- encourage responsible pet ownership such as cat containment
- educate the community on how to help conserve the species
- improve habitat connectivity
- enhance habitat condition and extent