Leptotyphlops

Leptotyphlops
Western blind snake, L. humilis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Leptotyphlopidae
Genus: Leptotyphlops
Fitzinger, 1843
Synonyms
"Catodon" redirects here. For the catodon whale, see sperm whale.

Leptotyphlops is a genus of nonvenomous blind snakes, commonly known as slender blind snakes and threadsnakes,[2] found throughout North and South America, Africa, India and southwestern Asia. Currently, 87 species are recognized.[2]

Description

Most species look much like shiny earthworms. They are pink or brown, and their scales give them a segmented appearance. Other species are black in color, but have the same general body structure. Their common name comes from the fact that their eyes are greatly reduced almost to the point of uselessness, and hidden behind a protective head scale. The species which are called thread snakes are so named because of their very narrow, long bodies.

Geographic range

Found in the Americas, Africa, India and southwestern Asia. In the Americas from the southwestern United States, south through most of Central and South America as far as Uruguay and Argentina. Also found on San Salvador Island in the Bahamas, in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and in the Lesser Antilles. Also found on Socotra Island.[1]

Behavior

All blind snakes are burrowing snakes, spending most of their time deep in loose soil, typically only emerging when it rains and they get flooded out.

Diet

Their primary diet is ant and termite larvae.

Species

Species[2] Taxon author[2] Subsp.*[2] Common name Geographic range
L. aethiopicus[3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. affinis (Boulenger, 1884) 0 Venezuela blind snake
L. albifrons (Wagler, 1824) 0 Wagler's blind snake
L. albipunctus (Jan, 1861) 0 Tucuman blind snake
L. albiventer Hallermann & Rödel, 1995 0
L. anthracinus Bailey, 1946 0 Bailey's blind snake
L. asbolepis Thomas, McDiarmid & F. Thompson, 1985 0 Martin Garcia thread snake
L. australis Freiberg & Orejas-Miranda, 1968 0 Freiberg's blind snake
L. bicolor (Jan, 1860) 0 two-colored blind snake
L. bilineatus (Schlegel, 1839) 0 two-lined blind snake
L. blanfordii (Boulenger, 1890) 0 Sindh thread snake
L. borapeliotes Vanzolini, 1996 0
L. borrichianus (Degerbøl, 1923) 0 Degerbøl's blind snake
L. boulengeri (Boettger, 1913) 0 Manda flesh-pink blind snake
L. brasiliensis Laurent, 1949 0 Brazilian blind snake
L. bressoni Taylor, 1939 0 Michoacán slender blind snake
L. brevicaudus (Bocage, 1887) 0
L. brevissimus Shreve, 1964 0 Caqueta blind snake
L. broadleyi Wallach & Hahn, 1997 0
L. breuili Hedges, 2008 0 St. Lucia threadsnake
L. burii (Boulenger, 1905) 0 Arabian blind snake
L. cairi (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1844) 0 Cairo blind snake
L. calypso Thomas, McDiarmid & F. Thompson, 1985 0 Samana thread snake
L. carlae Hedges, 2008 0 Barbados threadsnake
L. collaris Hoogmoed, 1977 0 collared blind snake
L. columbi Klauber, 1939 0 San Salvador blind snake
L. conjunctus (Jan, 1861) 3 Cape thread snake
L. cupinensis Bailey & Carvalho, 1946 0 Mato Grosso blind snake
L. debilis (Chabanaud, 1918) 0 West African blind snake
L. diaplocius Orejas-Miranda, 1969 0 common Peru blind snake
L. dimidiatus (Jan, 1861) 0 dainty blind snake
L. dissimilis (Bocage, 1886) 0 Sudan blind snake
L. distanti (Boulenger, 1892) 0 Distant's blind snake
L. drewesi Wallach, 1996 0 Drewes's worm snake
L. dugandi Dunn, 1944 0 Dugand's blind snake
L. dulcis (Baird & Girard, 1853) 2 Texas blind snake
L. emini (Boulenger, 1890) 0 Emin Pasha's worm snake
L. filiformis (Boulenger, 1899) 0 Socotra Island blind snake
L. fitzingeri (Jan, 1861) 0
L. gestri (Boulenger, 1906) 0
L. goudotii (A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1844) 3 black blind snake
L. gracilior (Boulenger, 1910) 0 slender thread snake
L. guayaquilensis Orejas-Miranda & G. Peters, 1970 0 Guayaquila blind snake
L. hamulirostris (Nikolsky, 1907) 0
L. howelli [3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. humilis (Baird & Girard, 1853) 8 Western thread snake
L. incognitus[3] Broadley & Watson, 1976
L. jacobseni [3] Broadley & S. Broadley, 1999
L. joshuai Dunn, 1944 0 Joshua's blind snake
L. kafubi [3] (Boulenger, 1919)
L. keniensis[3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. koppesi Amaral, 1955 0 Amaral's blind snake
L. labialis (Sternfeld, 1908) 0 Damara thread snake
L. latirostris[3] (Sternfeld, 1912)
L. leptepileptus Thomas, McDiarmid & F. Thompson, 1985 0 Haitian border thread snake
L. longicaudus (W. Peters, 1854) 0 long-tailed thread snake
L. macrolepis (W. Peters, 1857) 0 big-scaled blind snake
L. macrops Broadley & Wallach, 1996 0 large-eyed worm snake
L. macrorhynchus (Jan, 1860) 0 long-nosed worm snake
L. macrurus (Boulenger, 1903) 0 Boulenger's blind snake
L. maximus Loveridge, 1932 0 giant blind snake
L. mbanjensis[3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. melanotermus (Cope, 1862) 0 Latin American blind snake
L. melanurus Schmidt & Walker, 1943 0 dark blind snake
L. merkeri [3] (F. Werner, 1909)
L. munoai Orejas-Miranda, 1961 0
L. narirostris (W. Peters, 1867) 1
L. nasalis Taylor, 1940 0 Taylor's blind snake
L. natatrix (Andersson, 1937) 0 Gambia blind snake
L. nicefori Dunn, 1946 0 Santander blind snake
L. nigricansT (Schlegel, 1839) 0 black thread snake
L. nigroterminus[3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. nursii (Anderson, 1896) 0 Nurse's blind snake
L. occidentalis FitzSimons, 1962 0 Western thread snake
L. pembae[3] Loveridge, 1941
L. perreti Roux-Estève, 1979 0
L. peruvianus Orejas-Miranda, 1969 0 Peru blind snake
L. pitmani [3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. pungwensis[3] Broadley & Wallach, 1997
L. pyrites Thomas, 1965 0 Thomas's blind snake
L. reticulatus (Boulenger, 1906) 0 reticulate blind snake
L. rostratus (Bocage, 1886) 0 Bocage's blind snake
L. rubrolineatus (F. Werner, 1901) 0 red-lined blind snake
L. rufidorsus Taylor, 1940 0 rose blind snake
L. salgueiroi Amaral, 1955 0 Espírito Santo blind snake
L. scutifrons (W. Peters, 1854) 0 Peters' thread snake
L. septemstriatus (Schneider, 1801) 0 seven-striped blind snake
L. signatus (Jan, 1861) 0 South American blind snake
L. striatulus H.M. Smith & Laufe, 1945 0
L. subcrotillus Klauber, 1939 0 Klauber's blind snake
L. sundewalli (Jan, 1861) 0 Sundevall's worm snake
L. sylvicolus[3] Broadley & Wallach, 1997
L. tanae[3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. teaguei Orejas-Miranda, 1964 0 Northern blind snake
L. telloi Broadley & Watson, 1976 0 Tello's thread snake
L. tesselatus (Tschudi, 1845) 0 Tschudi's blind snake
L. tricolor Orejas-Miranda & Zug, 1974 0 three-colored blind snake
L. undecimstriatus (Schlegel, 1839) 0 eleven-striped blind snake
L. unguirostris (Boulenger, 1902) 0 Southern blind snake
L. variabilis (Scortecci, 1928) 0
L. vellardi Laurent, 1984 0
L. weyrauchi Orejas-Miranda, 1964 0 Argentine blind snake
L. wilsoni Hahn, 1978 0 Wilson's blind snake

*) Not including the nominate subspecies.
T) Type species.

Taxonomy

Two new species, L. breuili from Saint Lucia and L. carlae from the Caribbean island of Barbados, were described by Hedges (2008). At only 10 cm (4 in), L. carlae is believed to be slightly smaller than L. bilineatus, and thus to be the world's smallest snake.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Leptotyphlops". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 29 August 2007.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Leptotyphlops" . The Reptile Database. www.reptile-database.org.
  4. ↑ Hedges SB. 2008. At the lower size limit in snakes: two new species of threadsnakes (Squamata, Leptotyphlopidae, Leptotyphlops) from the Lesser Antilles. Zootaxa 1841: 1-30. (Leptotyphlops carlae, new species, pp. 5-9, Figure 1A). PDF at Zootaxa. Accessed 28 July 2008.
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