Typhlopidae

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Craniata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Lepidosauromorpha
Superordo: Lepidosauria
Ordo: Squamata
Subordo: Serpentes
Superfamilia: Typhlopoidea

Familia: Typhlopidae
Subfamiliae (4): Afrotyphlopinae - Asiatyphlopinae - Madatyphlopinae - Typhlopinae

Overview of genera (16)

Acutotyphlops – Afrotyphlops – Amerotyphlops – Anilios – Argyrophis – Cyclotyphlops – Grypotyphlops – Indotyphlops – Lemuriatyphlops – Letheobia – Madatyphlops – Malayotyphlops – Ramphotyphlops – Rhinotyphlops – Typhlops – Xerotyphlops

Check (2): Megatyphlops – Ophthalmidion
Name

Typhlopidae Merrem, 1820
References
Additional references

Broadley, D.G.; Wallach, V. 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. Zootaxa, 2255: 1–100. Abstract & excerpt
Domínguez, M., Fong G., A. & Iturriaga, M. 2013. A new blind snake (Typhlopidae) from northeastern Cuba. Zootaxa 3681(2): 136–146. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3681.2.2 Reference page.
Graboski, R., Pereira Filho, G.A., Silva, A.A., Prudente, A.L.C. & Zaher, H. 2015. A new species of Amerotyphlops from Northeastern Brazil, with comments on distribution of related species. Zootaxa 3920(3): 443–452. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3920.3.3. Reference page.
Hedges, S.B., Marion, A.B., Lipp, K.M., Marin, J. & Vidal, N. 2014. A taxonomic framework for typhlopid snakes from the Caribbean and other regions (Reptilia, Squamata). Caribbean Herpetology 49: 1–61. Full article (PDF). Reference page.
Shea, G.M. 2015. A new species of Anilios (Scolecophidia: Typhlopidae) from Central Australia. Zootaxa 4033(1): 103–116. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4033.1.5. Preview (PDF), Full article (PDF). Reference page.
Venchi, A., Wilson, S.K. & Borsboom, A.C. 2015. A new blind snake (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from an endangered habitat in south-eastern Queensland, Australia. Zootaxa 3990(2): 272–278. DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3990.2.7. Preview (PDF). Reference page.
Wegener, J.E., Swoboda, S., Hawlitschek, O., Franzen, M., Wallach, V., Vences, M., Nagy, Z.T., Hedges, S.B., Köhler, J. & Glaw, F. 2013. Morphological variation and taxonomic reassessment of the endemic Malagasy blind snake family Xenotyphlopidae (Serpentes, Scolecophidia). Spixiana 36(2): 269–282. Full article (PDF). Reference page.

Vernacular names
беларуская: Слепазмейкі
Deutsch: Blindschlangen
English: Blind Snakes
suomi: Aitosokkokäärmeet
македонски: Слепи змии
Nederlands: Wormslangen
português: Cobra-cega
ไทย: งูดิน

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]

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]
Fossil record

Possible Typhlopid skin has been identified in Dominican amber.[6]
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[7] 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[8] 1 peninsular India
Indotyphlops Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin, & Vidal, 2014 23 Asia
Letheobia Cope, 1869[9] 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

TType genus[1]
Former genera

Xenotyphlops, formerly classified in the Typhlopidae, is now classed in the Xenotyphlopidae.
See also

List of typhlopid species and subspecies

References

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).
"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.
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. JSTOR 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. PMC 3682911. PMID 23627680.
Poinar, George O.; Poinar, Roberta (1999). The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-05728-6.
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: 1–100. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2255.1.1.
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)". 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.; 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. S2CID 7385343.