Texas slender blind snake

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Texas slender blind snake
Leptotyphlops dulcis.jpg

Texas Slender Blind Snake ( Rena dulcis )

Systematics
without rank: Toxicofera
Subordination : Snakes (serpentes)
Superfamily : Blind snake-like (Typhlopoidea)
Family : Slender blind snakes (Leptotyphlopidae)
Genre : Rena
Type : Texas slender blind snake
Scientific name
Rena dulcis
Baird & Girard , 1853

The Texas slender blind snake ( Rena dulcis , Syn . : Leptotyphlops dulcis ) is a species of snake belonging to the family of the slender blind snakes (Leptotyphlopidae) that occurs in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico . Three subspecies are currently recognized. The nominate form is described here.

Names

The scientific name is formed from Greek and Latin components. "Leptotyphlops" consists of the Greek Leptos (λεπτός) "thin" and tyflops (τυφλός) "blind" and ṓps (ὤψ) "eye", while the species name "dulcis" is the Latin name for "sweet". Colloquial names are "burrowing snake", "eastern worm snake", "plains blind snake", "Texas blind snake", "Texas Rena" (after an outdated scientific name), "Texas slender blind snake", "Texas threadsnake", "Texas worm snake", "worm snake".

features

Texas slender blind snakes look like shiny annelids at first glance , but they are not segmented . Adult animals reach a maximum length of 27 cm, including the tail, and a diameter of up to 5 mm. They are dark brown-red (puce) with dark shimmering scales . The eyes are no more than two dark spots under the scalp. The mouth is small and subordinate. They have 14 rows of scales on the front body, 12 rows on the belly and 10 rows of scales on the tail with a total of 199 to 255 scales in the middle of the back. The anal scale is undivided. The species differs from the closely related Mexican slender blind snake ( Rena humilis ) by the number of scales between the eyes (one prefrontal and two supraoculars , vs. R. humilis with only one scale). The Texas slender blind snake has no teeth in its upper jaw, only the front half of the lower jaw is dentate. (Cochran, 1991; Ernst and Ernst, 2003).

behavior

Most of the time, the blind snakes live buried in loose soil or in the corridors of ants and termite burrows. They only come to the surface at night, or when their habitat is flooded. They are therefore often observed after rainfall and mistaken for worms. When caught, they begin to snake violently and smeared with intestinal secretions. They also push the tip of the tail against the attacker. The mouth is too small to bite. They mainly use pheromones for communication, but also to protect against predators and their prey, the wandering ants . In addition to small predatory mammals, the predators also include centipedes and it has been observed that the Eastern Screech Owl carry live specimens into their nests, where they deposit the snakes as a cleaning aid against parasites.

nutrition

The diet of L. dulcis consists mainly of termites and ants , as well as their larvae .

Subspecies

Subspecies Descriptor Colloquial name
R. d. dissectus ( Cope , 1896) New Mexico blind snake
R. d. dulcis ( Baird & Girard , 1853) Plains blind snake
RL. d. myopicus ( Garman , 1884)

distribution

The Texas slender blind snake is common in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In the US there are populations in southwest Kansas , western Oklahoma with the Panhandle , central & southern Texas , New Mexico and southeastern Arizona . In Mexico, the distribution area extends over Chihuahua , Coahuila , Tamaulipas , Nuevo León , San Luis Potosí , Veracruz , Querétaro , Hidalgo and Puebla . The type locality is "between San Pedro and Camanche Springs, Texas."

protection

Due to the subterranean way of life, it is hardly possible to estimate how large the population is in nature. However, the species is known to be severely affected by the invasion of the red fire ant .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e Albert Hazen Wright , AA Wright: Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock (in 2 volumes) 1957 ( Leptotyphlops dulcis , pp. 39-44, Figure 10, Map 7).
  2. ^ A b Hobart Muir Smith , ED Brodie Jr .: Reptiles of North America: A Guide to Field Identification . New York: Golden Press 1982. ISBN 0-307-13666-3 ( Leptotyphlops : 136-137).
  3. ↑ animaldiversity.org
  4. ↑ Screech Owls keep blind snakes as housekeepers. erthtouchnews.com.
    FR Gehlbach, RS Baldridge: Live blind snakes (Leptotyphlops dulcis) in eastern screech owl (Otus asio) nests: a novel commensalism. In: Oecologia. Volume 71, Number 4, March 1987, pp. 560-563, doi : 10.1007 / BF00379297 , PMID 28312227 .
  5. ^ Between San Pedro and Camanche Springs Tex. "(Comanche Springs, Texas). AH Wright, AA Wright: Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada. Ithaca and London: Comstock 1957. (Leptotyphlops dulcis, pp. 39-44, Figure 10, Map 7).

literature

  • Spencer Fullerton Baird , Charles Frédéric Girard : 1853. Catalog of North American Reptiles in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. Part I. — Serpents. Washington, District of Columbia: Smithsonian Institution. ( Rena dulcis , new species, pp. 142-143).
  • John L. Behler , FW King: The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians . New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1979. ISBN 0-394-50824-6 . ( Leptotyphlops dulcis , pp. 583-584 + plate 464).
  • George Albert Boulenger : Catalog of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families ... Glauconidæ ... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History) Taylor and Francis, printers 1893. ( Glauconia dulcis , p. 65).
  • P. Cochran: An unusual microhabitat for a fossorial snake in the rainforest of Peru. In: Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 1991, 94 / (1/2): 77-78.
  • Roger Conant : A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of Eastern and Central North America, Second Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1975. ISBN 0-395-19979-4 (hardcover), ISBN 0-395-19977-8 (paperback). ( Leptotyphlops dulcis , pp. 137-138, Figure 31 + Plate 33 + Map 122).
  • C. Ernst, E. Ernst: Snakes of the United States and Canada. Washington and London: Smithsonian Books 2003.
  • Laurence Monroe Klauber : The Worm Snakes of the Genus Leptotyphlops in the United States and northern Mexico. Transactions of the San Diego Society of Natural History 1940, 9 : 87-162.
  • Karl Patterson Schmidt , DD Davis: Field Book of Snakes of the United States and Canada . New York: GP Putnam's Sons 1941. ( Leptotyphlops dulcis , pp. 93-94).
  • Robert C. Stebbins : A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians, Third Edition . The Peterson Field Guide Series®. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin 2003. ISBN 978-0-395-98272-3 . ( Leptotyphlops dulcis , p. 341 + Figure 19, p. 118 + Map 128).

Web links

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