Loveridge (1941) re-described this species as follows: Description (quadrifrons). Rostral moderate, triangular; nasal forming a suture with its fellow behind the rostral; a pair of prefrontals, separated from the first and second labials; no frontal; a pair of postfrontals; a pair of small parietals, rarely subdivided; a pair of small occipitals, rarely subdivided; no supraocular, but a preocular which extends above ocular and is in contact with a prefrontal and postfrontal above, a nasal before, and a first and second labial below; ocular moderate, eye distinct; 3 upper labials, third largest; 3-6 large temporals, upper in contact with a postfrontal, parietal and occipital, and anteriorly with ocular and third labial; mental moderate, subquadrangular; 3 lower labials, first small, second very large; postmental elongate; 2 chin shields separated by a large sublabial from the lower labials, or 4 chin shields, outer in contact with second lower labial; 221-242 annuli on body, 41-50 on tail; 33-38 (17-22 + 16-22) segments in a midbody annulus, the 2 median ventral segments about two times as broad as long; 4-6 anals; 4 preanal pores. Dentition. "Premaxillary teeth 2; maxillaries 3-3; mandibulars 5-5," is given by Monard for ambuellensis but is almost certainly based on a defective series, cf. allied species. Measurements. Total length 208 (176 + 32) mm.

Snout rounded. Basipterygoid processes, partes posteriores choan arum and supratemporals absent. Quadrate dilated proximally. A peculiar post orbital arch formed by the parietal and the pterygoid. Dentition 7 ; 4 ; 7 [premaxillary, maxillary and mandibular number of teeth]. Prefrontal shields longitudinally divided, four in all. No fusion of head shields (Vanzolini, 1951).

Type locality: Neu Barmen [= Otjimbingue, Namibia], by implication. ambuellensis: Type locality: Chimporo (= Techimpolo) and Caquindo, Angola. capensis: Type locality: ‘‘Lac Ngami’’. Syntypes: ZMB 4202-4 Syntypes: LCFM (two specimens, unnumbered); NMBA 13330 [ambuellensis] Holotype: MNHN 431 [capensis] Holotype: RMCA (= MRAC = RGMC) 7233 [katangae]

No notable issues.

Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

This is the most widely distributed Zygaspis species, occurring from northern South Africa to southern Democratic Republic of the Congo (Broadley and Broadley, 1997). In South Africa, it occurs in Limpopo province, the western parts of North West province and the northern half of the Northern Cape province (Tolley et al., 2023).

This species has adaptations for underground locomotion, including a robust skull to plough through the Earth, an elongate body and reduced limbs to move through tunnels and scales arranged in rings allowing amphisbaenians to use an earthworm-style, accordion-like movement to crawl (Longrich et al., 2015).

Carnivore - Insectivore (insect-eating)

Zygaspis quadrifrons feeds on small insects and their larvae, particularly termites (Branch, 1998).

This species is oviparous, with females laying between 3-4 elongate eggs in summer (Branch, 1998).

No data.

Savanna