Maria's worm lizard (Blanus mariae) is an amphisbaenian species in the family Blanidae. The species is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula.
Geographic range Blanus mariae is found in the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, mainly in the southern half of Portugal and in the spanish autonomous communities of Extremadura and western Andalusia.
Taxonomy Blanus mariae forms a cryptic species complex with Blanus cinereus.
Etymology The specific name, mariae, is in honour of Maria del Rosario Aguilar Tortajada (1914–2002), the grandmother of Eva María Albert, one of the scientists who described this species.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . (Blanus mariae, pp. 168-169).
Description Blanus mariae has an average snout–vent length of . The body colour is pale pink to dark brilliant purple, with a reticulate pattern caused by the inter-segmental sutures.
References
Further reading Albert, Eva M.; Fernández, Adrián (2009). "Evidence of cryptic speciation in a fossorial reptile: description of a new species of Blanus (Squamata: Amphisbaenia: Blanidae) from the Iberian Peninsula". Zootaxa 2234: 56-68. (Blanus mariae, new species).