Chirindia

Chirindia are small and slender. For example, the holotype of C. swynnertoni is 13.5 cm (5.3 in) long, with the tail 1.4 cm (0.55 in), and the body is 3 mm (0.12 in) in diameter. They are uniformly, unpigmented flesh-coloured, tinged with purplish, and have minute teeth.[2] They usually lack an ocular shield, and each eye is situated under the posterior part of a large fused shield, that combines the nasal, second and sometimes first upper labial, prefrontal and sometimes the ocular shield into one,[1] so as to cover all of one side of the snout.[2]

The pair of large shields, fused with the ocular to cover each side of the snout, combined with a small azygous rostral shield, are comparable to that of genus Placogaster of the Senegambia, but the paired ventral shields, and absence of pre-anal pores in some species distinguish them.[2]

Species in the genus Chirindia burrow in loose soil and feed on termites. They are present in clay, sandy or alluvial soils, and sometimes find refuge under stones and rotten logs.[1] They are preyed on by jackals, ratels, kingfishers and snakes, of which some, like the dwarf wolf snake (Lycophidion nanum), are specialized to prey on them.[1]

The genus Chirindia contains five valid species, some of which have recognized subspecies.[1][3]

• Chirindia ewerbecki F. Werner, 1910 – Mbanja worm lizard
  • Chirindia ewerbecki ewerbecki F. Werner, 1910
  • Chirindia ewerbecki nanguruwensis (Loveridge, 1962)
• Chirindia langi V. FitzSimons, 1939 – Lang's worm lizard[4]
  • Chirindia langi langi V. FitzSimons, 1939
  • Chirindia langi occidentalis Jacobsen, 1984 – Soutpansberg worm lizard
• Chirindia mpwapwaensis (Loveridge, 1932) – Mpwapwa worm lizard
• Chirindia rondoensis (Loveridge, 1941) – Nchingidi worm lizard
• Chirindia swynnertoni Boulenger, 1907 – Swynnerton's worm lizard[4]

Nota bene: A binomial authority or trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species or subspecies was originally described in a genus other than Chirindia.