Anguidae🦎

Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesAnguidae
Reptiles

🦎Common slow worm

Anguis fragilis Linnaeus, 1758

The common slow worm is a non-venomous species of legless lizard native to Europe. It is also called a deaf adder, blindworm, or regionally, a long-cripple, steelworm, and hazelworm.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
None yet
Photos
1
Measurements
9
vs you
≈ 1/5,300th of your weight
Also called
Anguis fragilis, slow worm, Slow worm
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2024.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
0.01 kg
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
54 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Common slow worm

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
0.01 kgrecord 0.08 kg · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Maximum lifespan
54 yearsrecord 54 years · ReptTraits
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Gestation
91 days
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Diet
Carnivorous
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Diurnal
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Foraging mode
ACT
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Venomous
No
ReptTraits
Details ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

Snout–vent length
0.29 mmaximum recorded
ReptTraits
Other figures ↓

Source: ReptTraits · v1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024) · CC BY 4.0

By sex

  • Female0.18 mReptTraitsv1.2 (Oskyrko et al. 2024)
Volume l
0 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Common slow worm yet: body length, shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classSquamata
  4. ›familyAnguidae
  5. ›genusAnguis
  6. ›speciesAnguis fragilis
Full lineage
  1. orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
  2. infraorderAnguimorpha
  3. familyAnguidae
  4. genusAnguis
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. orderSauria
  9. superorderLepidosauria
  10. orderLizards & snakes · Squamata
  11. infraorderAnguimorpha
  12. familyAnguidae
  13. genusAnguis
More

More about the Common slow worm

In other languages
Westliche Blindschleiche (de), stålorm (nb), slepýš křehký (cs), Anguis fragilis (es), vaskitsa (fi), Anguis fragilis (fr) … and 25 more languages
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