Typhlopidae

Typhlopidae
Ramphotyphlops braminus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Infraorder: Scolecophidia
Superfamily: Typhlopoidea
Family: Typhlopidae
Merrem, 1820
Synonyms

The Typhlopidae are a family of blind snakes.[2] They are found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and all mainland Australia and various islands.[3] The rostral scale overhangs the mouth to form a shovel-like burrowing structure. They live underground in burrows, and since they have no use for vision, their eyes are mostly vestigial. They have light-detecting black eye spots, and teeth occur in the upper jaw. The tail ends with a horn-like scale. Most of these species are oviparous. Currently, ten genera are recognized containing over 200 species.[2][4]

Geographic range

They are found in most tropical and many subtropical regions all over the world, particularly in Africa, Asia, islands in the Pacific, tropical America, and southeastern Europe.[1]

Genera

Genus[2] Taxon author[2] Species[2] Common name Geographic range[1]
Acutotyphlops Wallach, 1995 5 Eastern Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
Afrotyphlops Broadley & Wallach, 2009[5]
Austrotyphlops Wallach, 2006
Cyclotyphlops Bosch & Ineich, 1994 1 Indonesia: Selatan Province, southern Sulawesi
Grypotyphlops W. Peters, 1881[6]
Letheobia Cope, 1869[7]
Megatyphlops Broadley & Wallach, 2009[5]
Ramphotyphlops Fitzinger, 1843 49 long-tailed blind snakes[2] Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, the Lesser Sundas, Moluccas, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Palau Islands, Australia, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, the Loyalty Islands, the Fiji Islands, and possibly New Calidonia
Rhinotyphlops Fitzinger, 1843 28 India, the Middle East, and Africa south of the Sahara
TyphlopsT Oppel, 1811 120 blind snakes[2] Southeastern Europe, the Middle East, tropical and subtropical Asia, most of Africa, Madagascar and certain islands of the Indian Ocean, the Philippines, Moluccas, New Guinea, Central America, South America, and the West Indies

TType genus[1]

Former genera

Xenotyphlops, formerly classified as a Typhlopidae, is now classed as a Xenotyphlopidae.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Typhlopidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
  3. Shine, Richard. 2007. Australian Snakes, a Natural History. Chatswood, New South Wales: New Holland Publishers. 224 pp. ISBN 978-1-876334-25-3.
  4. Pyron, Robert Alexander; Burbrink, Frank T.; Wiens, John J. (2013). "A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes" (PDF). BMC Evolutionary Biology 13 (1): 93145. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-93. PMC 3682911. PMID 23627680.
  5. 1 2 Broadley, Donald G.; Wallach, Van (2009). "A review of the eastern and southern African blind-snakes (Serpentes: Typhlopidae), excluding Letheobia Cope, with the description of two new genera and a new species" (PDF). Zootaxa 2255: 1100.
  6. Resurrected for a reclassified Rhinotyphlops acutus by Wallach (2003). Wallach, Van; Pauwels, Olivier S. G. (2004). "Typhlops lazelli, a new species of Chinese blindsnake from Hong Kong (Serpentes: Typhlopidae)" (PDF). Breviora (512): 121.
  7. Resurrected by Broadley & Wallach (2007). Wallach, Van; Brown, R.M.; Diesmos, A.C.; Gee, G.V.A. (2007). "An Enigmatic New Species of Blind Snake from Luzon Island, Northern Philippines, with a Synopsis of the Genus Acutotyphlops (Serpentes: Typhlopidae)" (PDF). Journal of Herpetology 41 (4): 690–702. doi:10.1670/206-5.1.

External links

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