Kei Island worm snake

The Kei Island worm snake (Malayotyphlops kraalii) is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae.McDiarmid, Roy W.; Campbell, Jonathan A.; Touré, T'Shaka A. (1999). Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 1. Washington, District of Columbia: Herpetologists' League. 511 pp.

Etymology The specific name, kraalii, is in honor of Captain P.F. Kraal of the Dutch military in the Moluccas, who assisted the Italian expedition on which the holotype was collected.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Typhlops kraali [sic]", p. 146).

Geographic range M. kraalii is found in the Kai Islands of Indonesia.

Habitat The preferred natural habitat of M. kraalii is forest, at altitudes from sea level to , but it has also been found in artificial habitats such as gardens and plantations.

Behavior M. kraalii is terrestrial and fossorial.

Reproduction M. kraalii is oviparous.

References

Further reading Boulenger GA (1893). Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families Typhlopidæ .... London: Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). (Taylor and Francis, printers). xiii + 448 pp. + Plates I–XXVIII. (Typhlops kraalii, p. 30). Doria G (1874). "Enumerazione dei rettili raccolti dal Dott. O. Beccari in Amboina, alle Isole Aru ed alle Isole Kei durante gli anni 1872–73 [= Enumeration of the reptiles collected by Dr. O. Beccari on Ambon Island, in the Aru Islands and in the Kai Islands during the years 1872–1873]". Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova 6: 325–357 + Plates XI–XII. (Typhlops kraalii, new species, p. 347 + Plate XII, figure f, 5 views). (in Italian). Hedges SB, Marion AB, Lipp KM, Marin J, Vidal N (2014). "A taxonomic framework for typhlopid snakes from the Caribbean and other regions (Reptilia, Squamata)". Caribbean Herpetology (49): 1–61. (Malayotyphlops kraalii, new combination). de Rooij N (1917). The Reptiles of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. II. Ophidia. Leiden: E.J. Brill. xiv + 334 pp., 117 figures. (Typhlops kraalii, p. 4).