Biology:Typhlopidae
| Typhlopidae | |
|---|---|
| |
| European blind snake (Xerotyphlops vermicularis) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Reptilia |
| Order: | Squamata |
| Suborder: | Serpentes |
| Infraorder: | Scolecophidia |
| Superfamily: | Typhlopoidea |
| Family: | Typhlopidae Merrem, 1820 |
| Synonyms | |
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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. Typhlopids do not have dislocatable lower jaw articulations restricting them to prey smaller than their oral aperture.[4] The tail ends with a horn-like scale. Most of these species are oviparous. Currently, 18 genera are recognized containing over 200 species.[2][5]
Evolution
The Typhlopidae are thought to have originated on Madagascar during the Late Cretaceous, along with their sister group, the Xenotyphlopidae. The common ancestor of both families is thought to have diverged from the Gerrhopilidae earlier in the Cretaceous, when Insular India broke away from Madagascar. Afterwards, the Typhlopidae are thought to have dispersed out of Madagascar (leaving behind a single basal genus, Madatyphlops) into mainland Africa and then Eurasia, in contrast to the Xenotyphlopidae which remained restricted to Madagascar. From these regions, the Typhlopidae went on to colonize the rest of the world, with African typhlopids rafting across to Atlantic to South America during the Paleocene, then colonizing the Caribbean during the Oligocene, while Asian typhlopids colonized Australia from Southeast Asia or Indonesia later in the Oligocene.[6][7]
Fossil record
Possible Typhlopid skin has been identified in Dominican amber.[8]
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 | 29 | sub-Saharan Africa | ||
| Amerotyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin & Vidal, 2014 | 19 | Mexico through South America | |
| Anilios | Gray, 1845 | 48 | 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 | 1 | peninsular India | ||
| Indotyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin & Vidal, 2014 | 23 | Asia | |
| Letheobia | 37 | Africa and the Middle East | ||
| Madatyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin & Vidal, 2014 | 15 | Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, Mauritius | |
| Malayotyphlops | Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin & Vidal, 2014 | 12 | the Philippines and Indonesia | |
| Ramphotyphlops | Fitzinger, 1843 | 22 | 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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 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).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Typhlopidae". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=174338.
- ↑ Shine, Richard (2007). Australian Snakes, a Natural History. Chatswood, New South Wales: New Holland Publishers. 224 pp. ISBN:978-1-876334-25-3.
- ↑ Webb, Jonathan K.; Branch, William R.; Shine, Richard (2001). "Dietary Habits and Reproductive Biology of Typhlopid Snakes from Southern Africa". Journal of Herpetology 35 (4): 558–567. doi:10.2307/1565893. ISSN 0022-1511. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1565893.
- ↑ Pyron, Robert Alexander; Burbrink, Frank T.; Wiens, John J. (2013). "A phylogeny and revised classification of Squamata, including 4161 species of lizards and snakes". BMC Evolutionary Biology 13 (1): 93–145. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-13-93. PMID 23627680. Bibcode: 2013BMCEE..13...93P.
- ↑ Vidal, Nicolas (2010). "Blindsnake evolutionary tree reveals long history on Gondwana". Biology Letters 6 (4): 558–561, page 560. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2010.0220. PMID 20356885.
- ↑ Ali, Jason R.; Hedges, S. Blair (2023). "The colonisation of Madagascar by land‐bound vertebrates" (in en). Biological Reviews 98 (5): 1583–1606. doi:10.1111/brv.12966. ISSN 1464-7931. PMID 37142264. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12966.
- ↑ Poinar, George O.; Poinar, Roberta (1999) (in en). The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05728-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=MUJu9_zrPLQC.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Typhlopidae. |
- Typhlopidae at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 3 November 2008.
Wikidata ☰ Q664781 entry
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