T he anguid lizard Diploglossus lessonae Peracca, 1890, known locally as the “chalango-liso”, is an acve forager, with diurnal, semifossorial habits, and is associated with leaf lier, fallen tree trunks and rock crevices (Passos et al., 2011; Caldas et al., 2016). It has a serpenne, elongated body, with a reducon or disappearance of constricons between the head, torso and tail (Vanzolini, 1958). The species is endemic to Brazil and occurs in the north-east of the country, with a wide distribuon in this region. It is encountered in semiarid areas of caanga (Rodrigues et al., 2005), as well as higher altude swamps (Borges-Nojosa & Caramaschi, 2005) and Atlanc Forest regions (Schmidt & Inger, 1951; Freire, 1996). Currently, there is lile available informaon regarding its ecology, while informaon about reproducve aspects is even more limited. Here, we present a report on the birth of D. lessonae neonates and their colouraon. On 29 September 2022, at around 09:00 h, an adult female D. lessonae was captured in a caanga area in the municipality of Ruy Barbosa (12° 17’02” S, 40° 29’38” W), in the centre- north meso region of Bahia state, north-east Brazil. The capture was conducted in strict compliance with the legal guidelines established by the Authorisaon for Scienfic Acvies with reference number #51743, granted by the Biodiversity Authorisaon and Informaon System - SISBIO, ensuring the legality and ethics of the process. The animal was taken to the Animal Conservaon and Ecology Centre – ACEC, located at the Universidade Católica do Salvador UCSal, and added to the herpetology collecon. However, a swollen abdomen, uncommon for the species, was observed; consequently the specimen was kept under observaon in a terrarium (53 cm x 26 cm x 26 cm), containing 6 cm of soil covered by 2 cm of leaf lier, with the soil temperature monitored connuously. Aſter 58 days of observaon, maintaining average soil temperature of 28 °C, the birth of three young was recorded. Their mean dimensions (± SD) were head width 8.07 ± 0.67 mm, head length 11.03 ± 1.56 mm, snout-vent length 55.73 ± 4.33 mm, tail length 42.97 ± 2.72 mm, and weight 2.67 ± 0.58 g. The female’s body dimensions were recorded aſter birth of the young and were – head width = 15.2 mm; head length = 19 mm; SVL = 184.4 mm; regenerang tail length = 45.3 mm; weight = 9.9 g. Given that Vi (1985) indicated that the typical adult weighs about 54 g, the recorded weight of the female is exceponally light. It seems that this may be explained by the fact that the female had recently given birth, did not accept any of the food that was offered, and had lost part of her tail. The female was monitored consistently from arrival but no eggs or eggshells were observed, which was strange since it has been stated that this is an egg-laying (oviparous) species (Vi, 1985; 1992a). Our observaon suggests that this species must be either viviparous or even ovoviviparous. Furthermore, we observed that the colouraon of the neonates and adult differed. While the adult had black-brown transverse stripes on a brownish/pink background and was red ventrally (Fig. 1 A&B), the young had black transverse bands dorsally against a white background but ventrally they were translucent reddish- brown (Fig. 1 C&D). It has been recorded that the young have red bellies and that this is a case of Batesian mimicry of the venomous millipede Rhinocricus albidolimbatus, which is coloured with red and white rings and is sympatric with D. lessonae (Vi, 1992b). However, it seems that the red colouraon takes me to develop in the young lizards. Herpetological Bullen 168 (2024) 23 The Herpetological Bulletin 168, 2024: 23–24 Breeding of the anguid lizard Diploglossus lessonae in north-east Brazil RENATO M.R. JUNIOR 1,3* , CAUÃ M. DE ARAUJO 1,3 , RAPHAEL DE S. LIMA 1,3 , RAFAEL G. JANSEN 1,3 & MATEUS DA S. BONFIM 2,3,4 1 Universidade Católica do Salvador, Avenida Prof Pinto de Aguiar, Salvador, Bahia, 41740-090, Brazil ²Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, PE, 52171-900, Brazil ³Centro de Ecologia e Conservação Animal - ECOA, Universidade Católica do Salvador, Avenida Prof. Pinto de Aguiar, Salvador, Bahia, 41740-090, Brazil 4 Laboratório de Estudos Herpetológicos e Paleoherpetológicos, Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco, Departamento de Biologia, Rua Dom Manoel de Medeiros, s/n, Dois Irmãos, Recife, PE, 52171-900, Brazil * Corresponding author e-mail: renatomrjr@hotmail.com hps://doi.org/10.33256/hb168.2324 SHORT COMMUNICATION Figure 1. Adult female and neonate Diploglossus lessonae from Bahia state, north-east Brazil - A. Adult female dorsal view, B. Adult female ventral view, C. Neonate born to the female, dorsal view, D. Neonate born to female ventral view