Xenotyphlops
Xenotyphlops | ||||||||||||
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
Xenotyphlopidae | ||||||||||||
Vidal , Wynn , Donnellan & Hedges , 2010 | ||||||||||||
Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
Xenotyphlops | ||||||||||||
Wallach & Ineich , 1996 |
Xenotyphlops is a species of snake with few species from the superfamily of blind snakes (Typhlopoidea). The genus was described in 1996 by Wallach & Ineich . Nicolas Vidal and colleagues placed the genus in the monogeneric family Xenotyphlopidaein 2010. The two Xenotyphlops species occur in Madagascar .
features
Like all blind snake species , the Xenotyphlops species are small worm-like snakes 15 to 30 centimeters in length that live underground. They are pigmentless and their bodies have the same diameter over their entire length. They differ from the blind snakes by an almost circular and greatly enlarged rostral shield , which is almost vertical when viewed from the side, as well as a single, enlarged anal scutum . Visible eyes are missing, as is the vorocularia, a scale in front of the eye. Among all blind snake species, Xenotyphlops is the only genus missing the tracheal lung . Another feature is the large gap between the heart and the one-piece liver.
Systematics
Blind snake cladogram | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Xenotyphlopidae are the sister group of the blind snakes (Typhlopidae).
Only two types are known:
- Xenotyphlops grandidieri (Mocquard, 1905)
- Xenotyphlops mocquardi Wallach, Mercurio & Andreone, 2007
literature
- Vidal, Marin, Morini, Donnellan, Branch, Richard Thomas, Vences, Wynn, Cruaud & Hedges, 2010: Blindsnake evolutionary tree reveals long history on Gondwana. Biology Letters, vol. 6, n. 4, p. 558-561, doi : 10.1098 / rsbl.2010.0220
Individual evidence
- ↑ Xenotyphlops grandidieri in The Reptile Database Section Comment, Definition of the genus.