Common name: Zarudnyi's Worm Lizard
Scientific name: Diplometopon zarudnyi
Family: Trogonophidae

Size:
Total length: approximately 15–25 cm

Identification:
A highly specialized, limbless burrowing reptile with a cylindrical, worm-like body covered in small scales. The head is short, compact and wedge-shaped, adapted for pushing through soil and sand. The eyes are greatly reduced and the tail is short and blunt, giving the animal a superficially similar appearance at both ends. Despite its common name, it is an amphisbaenian rather than a true lizard. The UAE reptile atlas places the species within the family Trogonophidae. 

Habitat:
A fossorial species associated mainly with loose sandy and sandy-gravel soils, where it spends almost its entire life underground. It can occur beneath stones and in other places where the substrate is suitable for burrowing.

Status in the UAE:
A native species in the UAE. Because of its almost completely subterranean lifestyle, it is rarely encountered above ground and can easily remain undetected even where present. The UAE reptile atlas identifies it as native and non-endemic.

Diet:
Feeds underground primarily on small invertebrates, including insects and their larvae and other small soil-dwelling arthropods.

Behavior:
A strongly fossorial reptile adapted to moving through loose substrate. It normally remains beneath the surface, using its reinforced head to burrow through the soil. Above-ground encounters are unusual and may be associated with disturbance of the substrate or suitable environmental conditions.

Conservation Status:
Global: Least Concern (LC)
UAE National Red List: Least Concern (LC)