Leptotyphlops: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Content deleted Content added
Line 208: Line 208:
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2630951}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2630951}}


[[Category:Leptotyphlopidae]]
[[Category:Leptotyphlops]]
[[Category:Snake genera]]
[[Category:Snake genera]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Vivian Frederick Maynard FitzSimons]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Vivian Frederick Maynard FitzSimons]]

Revision as of 13:52, 29 July 2018

Leptotyphlops
Peters's threadsnake (Leptotyphlops scutifrons)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Leptotyphlopidae
Genus: Leptotyphlops
Fitzinger, 1843
Synonyms

Leptotyphlops is a genus of nonvenomous blind snakes, commonly known as slender blind snakes and threadsnakes,[2] found throughout North and South America, Africa, Indian subcontinent and southwestern Asia. 11 species have been moved to the genus Trilepida, others moved to the genera Epacrophis, Namibiana, Myriopholis, Epictia, Siagonodon, Tricheilostoma, Tetracheilostoma, Mitophis, and Rena.

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, Pakistan 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. conjunctus (Jan, 1861) 3 Cape thread snake
L. distanti (Boulenger, 1892) 0 Distant's blind snake
L. emini (Boulenger, 1890) 0 Emin Pasha's worm snake
L. howelli [3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. incognitus[3] Broadley & Watson, 1976
L. jacobseni [3] Broadley & S. Broadley, 1999
L. kafubi [3] (Boulenger, 1919)
L. keniensis[3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. latirostris[3] (Sternfeld, 1912)
L. macrops Broadley & Wallach, 1996 0 large-eyed worm snake
L. mbanjensis[3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. merkeri [3] (F. Werner, 1909)
L. nigricansT (Schlegel, 1839) 0 black thread snake
L. nigroterminus[3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. pembae[3] Loveridge, 1941
L. pitmani [3] Broadley & Wallach, 2007
L. pungwensis[3] Broadley & Wallach, 1997
L. scutifrons (W. Peters, 1854) 0 Peters' thread snake
L. sylvicolus[3] Broadley & Wallach, 1997
L. telloi Broadley & Watson, 1976 0 Tello's thread 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. ^ a b McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré TA (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. ^ a b c d "Leptotyphlops". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 29 August 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "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.

External links