Leptotyphlops bilineatus

Leptotyphlops bilineatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Leptotyphlopidae
Genus: Leptotyphlops
Species: L. bilineatus
Binomial name
Leptotyphlops bilineatus
(Schlegel, 1839)
Synonyms
  • Typhlops bilineatus - Schlegel, 1839
  • Typhlops (Eucephalus) bilineatus - Fitzinger, 1843
  • Stenostoma bilineatum - A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1844
  • Epicrata bilineatus - Gray, 1845
  • St[enostoma]. (Tetracheilostoma) bilineatum - Jan & Sordelli, 1861
  • S[tenostoma]. (Tetracheilostoma) bilineatum - Jan, 1863
  • Glauconia bilineata - Boulenger, 1893
  • Leptotyphlops bilineata - Barbour, 1914
  • Leptotyphlops bilineatus - Hahn, 1980 [1]
  • Tetracheilostoma bilineatum - Adalsteinsson et al., 2009

The Two-Lined Blind Snake (Leptotyphlops bilineatus) is a harmless blind snake species endemic to Martinique in the Lesser Antilles.

Distribution

Though previously recorded on St. Lucia and Barbados, specimens identified to those islands were described in 2008 as separate species, L. breuili and L. carlae. A specimen identified as from Guadeloupe was reported by Duméril and Bibron (1844:331), but none are known from that island. The type locality given is "Vaterland Martinique."[1]

Description

It is dark brown with two yellow stripes along its sides. It was once known as the world's smallest snake, being small enough to slither through a pencil if the lead were removed. Its typical length is 11 cm (4.5 in).[2] However, the newly described L. carlae (Hedges, 2008) is reported to be even smaller.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 McDiarmid RW, Campbell JA, Touré T. 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1. Herpetologists' League. 511 pp. ISBN 1-893777-00-6 (series). ISBN 1-893777-01-4 (volume).
  2. ↑ Reptiles: Snake at San Diego Zoo. Accessed 3 June 2008.
  3. ↑ Hedges, S. Blair (2008), "At the lower size limit in snakes: two new species of threadsnakes (Squamata: Leptotyphlopidae: Leptotyphlops) from the Lesser Antilles" (PDF), Zootaxa, 1841: 1–30, retrieved March 5, 2010
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