Typhlopidae: Difference between revisions

The '''Typhlopidae''' are a [[family (biology)|family]] of [[Scolecophidia|blind snakes]].<ref name="ITIS">{{ITIS |id=174338 |taxon=Typhlopidae |access-date=14 August 2007}}</ref> They are found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and all mainland Australia and various islands.<ref>Shine, Richard. 2007. ''Australian Snakes, a Natural History''. Chatswood, New South Wales: New Holland Publishers. 224 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-876334-25-3}}.</ref> 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. Typhlopids do not have dislocatable lower jaw articulations restricting them to prey smaller than their oral aperture.<ref>{{Cite journal|lastlast1=Webb|firstfirst1=Jonathan K.|last2=Branch|first2=William R.|last3=Shine|first3=Richard|date=2001|title=Dietary Habits and Reproductive Biology of Typhlopid Snakes from Southern Africa|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1565893|journal=Journal of Herpetology|volume=35|issue=4|pages=558–567|doi=10.2307/1565893|jstor=1565893|issn=0022-1511}}</ref> The tail ends with a horn-like scale. Most of these species are [[oviparous]]. Currently, 18 genera are recognized containing over 200 species.<ref name="ITIS" /><ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Pyron, Robert Alexander |author2=Burbrink, Frank T. |author3=Wiens, John J. |year=2013|title=A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes|journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology|volume=13|issue=1|pages=93&ndash;145|doi=10.1186/1471-2148-13-93|url= |pmid=23627680|pmc=3682911}}</ref>

Possible Typhlopid skin has been identified in [[Dominican amber]].<ref>{{Cite book|lastlast1=Poinar|firstfirst1=George O.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUJu9_zrPLQC&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&hl=en|title=The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World|last2=Poinar|first2=Roberta|date=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-05728-6|language=en}}</ref>