Aprasia aurita, also called the Mallee Worm-lizard, is a species of lizard

Lizard

Lizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...

 in the Pygopodidae

Pygopodidae

Pygopodidae is a family of squamates that have reduced or absent limbs and are related to the geckos. There are at least 35 species in two subfamilies and eight genera. They have unusually long, slender, bodies, giving them a strong resemblance to snakes...

 family. It is endemic to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and listed on Schedule 1 under the Commonwealth's Endangered Species Protection Act. It is also listed as "threatened" on Schedule 2 under the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. A. aurita was formerly found in the Woomelang

Woomelang, Victoria

Woomelang is a town in the Mallee region of Victoria, Australia. The town is located on the Sunraysia Highway, kilometres north west of the state capital, Melbourne, kilometres south east of Mildura and kilometres north of Horsham...

 and Ouyen

Ouyen, Victoria

Ouyen is a town in Victoria, Australia, located in the Rural City of Mildura at the junction of the Calder Highway and Mallee Highway, south of Mildura and north-west of Melbourne. At the 2006 census the town had a population of 1,061.-History:...

 area of north-western Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. Due to human land use it is now mostly found in 400 hectares (988.4 acre) of Wathe State Wildlife Reserve, north-western Victoria. It has also been found in Cobbler Creek Recreation Park

Cobbler Creek Recreation Park

Cobbler Creek Recreation Park is a conservation and recreation park north of Adelaide, South Australia in the suburb of Gulfview Heights. Originally part of the lands of the Kaurna aboriginal people, it was farmed from European settlement of South Australia until the declaration of the park in...

 in South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 and Mambray Creek Reserve

Mount Remarkable National Park

Mount Remarkable is a national park in South Australia , 238 km north of Adelaide.Edward John Eyre named Mount Remarkable in June 1840...

. It inhabits tall shrubland and open heath, primarily mallee

Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands

Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is a Major Vegetation Group which occurs in semi-arid areas of southern Australia. The vegetation is dominated by mallee eucalypts which are rarely over 6 metres high...

and other vegetation that has not been burnt for at least 40 years.

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