When selecting optimal habitats, animals should rely on detecting environmental cues that indicate the suitability of a given site. In fossorial animals, restrictions of the underground environment might limit the opportunities for habitat selection. However, field observations of some fossorial amphisbaenian reptiles indicate that microhabitat occupancy is not random. This might simply result from the low survival of individuals in suboptimal habitats, but it may reflect active behavioral selection. We suggest that, in the fossorial environment, chemical cues may be very important for actively selecting or avoiding specific microhabitats. Here, we tested the ability of Trogonophis wiegmanni amphisbaenians to discriminate and select different types of substrates by using chemical cues alone. In laboratory preference tests, amphisbaenians selected soils with low salinity levels (natural or experimentally manipulated), mimicking the microhabitat selection patterns observed in the wild. Moreover, chemosensory tests measuring tongue-flick rates showed that amphisbaenians discriminated using chemical cues alone between soil types according to natural salinity levels, and also between manipulated chemical stimuli with different salinity levels. These results suggest that the microgeographic patterns of distribution of these amphisbaenians are due to their ability to use substrate chemical cues to actively avoid extremely saline soils. and select optimal microhabitats.

在选择最佳栖息地时，动物应依靠检测表明给定地点适宜性的环境线索。在人工动物中，地下环境的限制可能会限制生境选择的机会。但是，现场观察到的一些两栖类两栖爬行动物爬行动物的栖息地并不是随机的。这可能仅是由于个体在次优栖息地中的低生存率所致，但可能反映了积极的行为选择。我们建议，在临时环境中，化学提示对于积极选择或避免特定的微生境可能非常重要。在这里，我们测试了Trogonophis wiegmanni的能力孟菲斯人通过单独使用化学提示来区分和选择不同类型的底物。在实验室偏好测试中，两栖动物选择了低盐度的土壤（天然或经实验处理），模仿了在野外观察到的微生境选择模式。此外，测量舌头甩动率的化学感觉测试表明，根据自然盐度水平，仅土壤类型之间，以及在不同盐度水平下的化学操纵刺激之间，仅使用化学提示就可以区分出两栖动物。这些结果表明，这些两栖类细菌的分布的微观地理模式是由于它们能够利用底物化学线索主动避免极度盐碱化的土壤。并选择最佳的微生境。