The Leptotyphlopidae (commonly called slender blind snakes or thread snakes) are a family of small snakes found in North America, South America, Africa and Asia. All are fossorial and adapted to burrowing, feeding on ants and termites. Two subfamilies are recognized.
Description
Relatively small snakes, leptotyphlopids rarely exceed in length; only Trilepida macrolepis and Leptotyphlops occidentalis grow larger. The cranium and upper jaws are immobile and no teeth are in the upper jaw. The lower jaw consists of a much elongated quadrate bone, a tiny compound bone, and a relatively larger dentary bone. The body is cylindrical with a blunt head and a short tail. The scales are highly polished. The pheromones they produce protect them from attack by termites.Field Guide to Snakes of Southern Africa - Bill Branch (Struik 1988) Among these snakes is what is believed to be the world's smallest: L. carlae (Hedges, 2008).Hedges SB (2008). "At the lower size limit in snakes: two new species of threadsnakes (Squamata, Leptotyphlopidae, Leptotyphlops) from the Lesser Antilles". Zootaxa 1841: 1-30.PDF at Zootaxa. Accessed 28 July 2008.
Geographic range Leptotyphlopids are found in Africa, western Asia from Turkey to eastern India, on Socotra Island, and from the southwestern United States south through Mexico and Central America to South America, though not in the high Andes. In Pacific South America, they occur as far south as southern coastal Peru, and on the Atlantic side as far as Uruguay and Argentina. In the Caribbean, they are found on the Bahamas, Hispaniola, Jamaica and the Lesser Antilles.
Habitat Leptotyphlopids occur in a wide variety of habitats from arid areas to rainforest, and are known to occur near ant and termite nests.
Feeding The diets of leptotyphlopids consist mostly of termite or ant larvae, pupae, and adults. Most species suck out the contents of insect bodies and discard the exoskeleton.
Reproduction Snakes in the family Leptotyphlopidae are oviparous.
Taxonomy
Subfamily Leptotyphlopinae Genus Epacrophis Hedges, Adalsteinsson & Branch, 2009 (3 species) Genus Leptotyphlops Fitzinger, 1843 (21 species) Genus Myriopholis Hedges, Adalsteinsson & Branch, 2009 (23 species) Genus Namibiana Hedges, Adalsteinsson & Branch, 2009 (5 species) Subfamily Epictinae Tribe Epictini, New World snakes Subtribe Epictina Genus Epictia Gray, 1845 (44 species) Genus Habrophallos Martins, Koch, Pinto, Folly, Fouquet & Passos, 2020 (monotypic, collared blind snake) Genus Siagonodon W. Peters, 1881 (4 species) Subtribe Renina Genus Rena Baird & Girard, 1853 (10 species) Genus Trilepida Hedges, 2011 (14 species) Subtribe Tetracheilostomina Genus Mitophis Hedges, Adalsteinsson & Branch, 2009 (4 species) Genus Tetracheilostoma Jan, 1861 (3 species) Tribe Rhinoleptini, African snakes Genus Tricheilostoma Jan, 1860 (5 species) Genus Rhinoleptus Orejas-Miranda, Roux-Estève & Guibé, 1970 (monotypic, Villiers's blind snake) Genus Rhinoguinea J.-F. Trape, 2014 (monotypic, Rhinoguinea magna)
Gallery
See also List of leptotyphlopid species and subspecies
References
External links
iNaturalist page