Ramphotyphlops
Encyclopedia
- Common names: long tailed blindsnakes, long-tailed blind snakes,worm snakes.
Ramphotyphlops is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of non-venomous blind snake
Typhlopidae
The Typhlopidae are a family of blind snakes. They are found mostly in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and all mainland Australia and various islands. The rostral scale overhangs the mouth to form a shovel like burrowing structure. They live underground in burrows, and since...
s found in southern and southeast Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, with one species inhabiting the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, as well as many islands in the southern Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. They occur in a wide variety of habitats. Currently, 49 species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
are recognized.
Description
Growing to 50–750 mm in length, these snakes come in a variety of colors from light beige, to red, to blackish brown. They are often difficult to identify properly without the aid of optical magnification. Their heads are conical and tapered in with the body of the snake.Habitat
These snakes can be found in antAnt
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
and termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
nests as well as under fallen leaves and holes in logs.
Feeding
They are believed to feed on earth worms as well as the larvaLarva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e and egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
s of ant
Ant
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...
s and termite
Termite
Termites are a group of eusocial insects that, until recently, were classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera , but are now accepted as the epifamily Termitoidae, of the cockroach order Blattodea...
s.
Species
| Species | Taxon author | Subsp.* | Common name | Geographic range | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R. acuticaudus Ramphotyphlops acuticaudus Ramphotyphlops acuticaudus, or the Palau blind snake, is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Peters Wilhelm Peters Wilhelm Karl Hartwich Peters was a German naturalist and explorer.He was assistant to Johannes Peter Müller and later curator of the Berlin Zoological Museum. In September 1842 he travelled to Mozambique via Angola. He returned to Berlin with an enormous collection of natural history specimens... , 1877) |
0 | Palau blind snake | ||
| R. affinis Ramphotyphlops affinis Ramphotyphlops affinis is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Boulenger George Albert Boulenger George Albert Boulenger FRS was a Belgian-British zoologist who identified over 2000 new animal species, chiefly fish, reptiles and amphibians.-Life:... , 1889) |
0 | |||
| R. albiceps Ramphotyphlops albiceps Ramphotyphlops albiceps is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Boulenger, 1898) | 0 | |||
| R. angusticeps Ramphotyphlops angusticeps Ramphotyphlops angusticeps is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Peters, 1877) | 0 | |||
| R. australis Ramphotyphlops australis Ramphotyphlops australis, or the Southern blindsnake, is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Gray John Edward Gray John Edward Gray, FRS was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray .... , 1845) |
0 | Southern blindsnake | Southwest Australia Southwest Australia Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regions in the world... |
|
| R. batillus Ramphotyphlops batillus Ramphotyphlops batillus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Waite, 1894) | 0 | |||
| R. bituberculatus Ramphotyphlops bituberculatus Ramphotyphlops bituberculatus is a species of snake, also known as "Peters's Blind Snake", which is in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Peters, 1863) | 0 | |||
| R. braminus Ramphotyphlops braminus Ramphotyphlops braminus is a harmless blind snake species found mostly in Africa and Asia, but has been introduced in many other parts of the world. Completely fossorial, they are often mistaken for earthworms, except that they are not segmented. The specific name is a Latinized form of the word... |
(Daudin François Marie Daudin François Marie Daudin was a French zoologist.With legs paralyzed by childhood disease, he studied of physics and natural history, but ended up being devoted to the latter.Daudin wrote in 1799–1800... , 1803) |
0 | Brahminy blind snake | ||
| R. broomi Ramphotyphlops broomi Ramphotyphlops broomi is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Boulenger, 1898) | 0 | |||
| R. centralis Ramphotyphlops centralis Ramphotyphlops centralis is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Storr, 1984 | 0 | |||
| R. chamodracaena Ramphotyphlops chamodracaena Ramphotyphlops chamodracaena is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Ingram & Covacevich, 1993 | 0 | |||
| R. cumingii Ramphotyphlops cumingii Ramphotyphlops cumingii is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Gray, 1845) | 0 | |||
| R. depressus Ramphotyphlops depressus Ramphotyphlops depressus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Peters, 1880) | 0 | |||
| R. diversus Ramphotyphlops diversus Ramphotyphlops diversus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Waite, 1894) | 0 | |||
| R. endoterus Ramphotyphlops endoterus Ramphotyphlops endoterus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Waite, 1918) | 0 | |||
| R. erycinus Ramphotyphlops erycinus Ramphotyphlops erycinus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Werner Franz Werner Franz Werner was an Austrian zoologist and explorer. Specializing as a herpetologist and entomologist, Werner described numerous species and other taxa of frogs, snakes, insects, and other organisms.... , 1901) |
0 | |||
| R. exocoeti Ramphotyphlops exocoeti Ramphotyphlops exocoeti is a blind snake species endemic to Christmas Island. No subspecies are currently recognized.-Geographic range:Found on Christmas Island The type locality given is -Conservation status:... |
(Boulenger, 1887) | 0 | Christmas Island blind snake | ||
| R. flaviventer Ramphotyphlops flaviventer Ramphotyphlops flaviventer is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Peters, 1864) | 0 | |||
| R. grypus Ramphotyphlops grypus Ramphotyphlops grypus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Waite, 1918) | 0 | |||
| R. guentheri Ramphotyphlops guentheri Ramphotyphlops guentheri is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Peters, 1865) | 0 | |||
| R. hamatus Ramphotyphlops hamatus Ramphotyphlops hamatus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Storr, 1981 | 0 | |||
| R. howi Ramphotyphlops howi Ramphotyphlops howi is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Storr, 1983 | 0 | |||
| R. kimberleyensis Ramphotyphlops kimberleyensis Ramphotyphlops kimberleyensis is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Storr, 1981 | 0 | |||
| R. leptosomus Ramphotyphlops leptosomus Ramphotyphlops leptosomus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Robb, 1972 | 0 | |||
| R. leucoproctus Ramphotyphlops leucoproctus Ramphotyphlops leucoproctus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Boulenger, 1889) | 0 | |||
| R. ligatus Ramphotyphlops ligatus Ramphotyphlops ligatus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Peters, 1879) | 0 | |||
| R. lineatus Ramphotyphlops lineatus Ramphotyphlops lineatus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Schlegel Hermann Schlegel Hermann Schlegel was a German ornithologist and herpetologist.-Early life and education:Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history... , 1839) |
0 | |||
| R. lorenzi Ramphotyphlops lorenzi Ramphotyphlops lorenzi is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Werner, 1909) | 0 | |||
| R. margaretae Ramphotyphlops margaretae Ramphotyphlops margaretae is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Storr, 1981 | 0 | |||
| R. micromma Ramphotyphlops micromma Ramphotyphlops micromma is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Storr, 1981 | 0 | |||
| R. minimus Ramphotyphlops minimus Ramphotyphlops minimus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Kinghorn, 1929) | 0 | |||
| R. multilineatus Ramphotyphlops multilineatus Ramphotyphlops multilineatus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... T |
(Schlegel, 1839) | 0 | |||
| R. nigrescens Ramphotyphlops nigrescens 'the blind snake is a type of snake that lives most of its life underground feeding on ants,termites and their larvae they can grow to a size of 23inches biggest being recorded at 32' depending on the species to find their food they flick their tongue to pick up the scent of an ant or termite trail... |
(Gray, 1845) | 0 | |||
| R. olivaceus Ramphotyphlops olivaceus Ramphotyphlops olivaceus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Gray, 1845) | 0 | |||
| R. pilbarensis Ramphotyphlops pilbarensis Ramphotyphlops pilbarensis is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Aplin & Donnellan, 1993 | 0 | |||
| R. pinguis Ramphotyphlops pinguis Ramphotyphlops pinguis, or the Rotund blind snake, is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Waite, 1897) | 0 | Rotund blind snake | ||
| R. polygrammicus Ramphotyphlops polygrammicus Ramphotyphlops polygrammicus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Schlegel, 1839) | 4 | |||
| R. proximus Ramphotyphlops proximus Ramphotyphlops proximus is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Waite, 1893) | 0 | |||
| R. silvia Ramphotyphlops silvia Ramphotyphlops silvia is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Ingram & Covacevich, 1993 | 0 | |||
| R. similis Ramphotyphlops similis Ramphotyphlops similis is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Brongersma Leo Brongersma Leo Daniel Brongersma was a Dutch zoologist, author, and lecturer.Brongersma was born in Bloemendaal, North Holland and earned his PhD at the University of Amsterdam in 1934... , 1934) |
0 | |||
| R. supranasalis Ramphotyphlops supranasalis Ramphotyphlops supranasalis is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Brongersma, 1934) | 0 | |||
| R. tovelli Ramphotyphlops tovelli Ramphotyphlops tovelli is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Loveridge, 1945) | 0 | |||
| R. troglodytes Ramphotyphlops troglodytes Ramphotyphlops troglodytes is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Storr, 1981 | 0 | |||
| R. unguirostris Ramphotyphlops unguirostris Ramphotyphlops unguirostris is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Peters, 1867) | 0 | |||
| R. waitii Ramphotyphlops waitii Ramphotyphlops waitii is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Boulenger, 1895) | 0 | |||
| R. wiedii Ramphotyphlops wiedii Ramphotyphlops wiedii is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Peters, 1867) | 0 | |||
| R. willeyi Ramphotyphlops willeyi Ramphotyphlops willeyi is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Boulenger, 1900) | 0 | |||
| R. yampiensis Ramphotyphlops yampiensis Ramphotyphlops yampiensis is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
Storr, 1981 | 0 | |||
| R. yirrikalae Ramphotyphlops yirrikalae Ramphotyphlops yirrikalae is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.... |
(Kinghorn, 1942) | 0 | |||
- ) Not including the nominate subspecies.
T) Type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
.
External links
- Ramphotyphlops at Lamington National Park. Accessed 29 August 2007.