Typhlopidae
| Typhlopidae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Indotyphlops braminus | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| 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, 18 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] | 29 | sub-Saharan Africa | |
| Amerotyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin, & Vidal, 2014 | 15 | Mexico through South America | |
| Anilios | Gray, 1845 | 47 | Australia and New Guinea. | |
| Antillotyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin, & Vidal, 2014 | 12 | Caribbean islands | |
| Argyrophis | Gray, 1845 | 12 | Asia | |
| Cubatyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin, & Vidal, 2014 | 12 | Caribbean islands | |
| Cyclotyphlops | Bosch & Ineich, 1994 | 1 | Indonesia: Selatan Province, southern Sulawesi | |
| Grypotyphlops | W. Peters, 1881[6] | 1 | peninsular India | |
| Indotyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin, & Vidal, 2014 | 23 | Asia | |
| Letheobia | Cope, 1869[7] | 32 | Africa and the Middle East | |
| Madatyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin, & Vidal, 2014 | 14 | Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, Mauritius | |
| Malayotyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin, & Vidal, 2014 | 11 | the Philippines and Indonesia | |
| Ramphotyphlops | Fitzinger, 1843 | 21 | long-tailed blind snakes[2] | southern and southeast Asia, as well as many islands in the southern Pacific Ocean |
| Rhinotyphlops | Fitzinger, 1843 | 7 | Africa | |
| Sundatyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin, & Vidal, 2014 | 1 | Indonesia and East Timor | |
| TyphlopsT | Oppel, 1811 | 20 | the West Indies | |
| Xerotyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin, & Vidal, 2014 | 6 | Palearctic |
Former genera
Xenotyphlops, formerly classified in the Typhlopidae, is now classed in the Xenotyphlopidae.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d 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).
- ^ a b c d e f "Typhlopidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 14 August 2007.
- ^ Shine, Richard. 2007. Australian Snakes, a Natural History. Chatswood, New South Wales: New Holland Publishers. 224 pp. ISBN 978-1-876334-25-3.
- ^ 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): 93–145. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-93. PMC 3682911. PMID 23627680.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ Broadley, Donald G. [in French] & 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: 1–100. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2255.1.1.
- ^ Resurrected for a reclassified Rhinotyphlops acutus by Wallach (2003). Wallach, Van & Pauwels, Olivier S. G. [in French] (2004). "Typhlops lazelli, a new species of Chinese blindsnake from Hong Kong (Serpentes: Typhlopidae)". Breviora. 512 (512): 1–21. doi:10.3099/0006-9698(2004)512[1:TLANSO]2.0.CO;2.
- ^ Resurrected by Broadley & Wallach (2007). Wallach, Van; Brown, R.M. [in French]; Diesmos, A.C. [in French] & 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. S2CID 7385343.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Typhlopidae.
- Typhlopidae at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 3 November 2008.