Afrotyphlops obtusus

Afrotyphlops obtusus, also known as the slender blind snake or southern gracile blind snake,[1][2] is a species of snake in the Typhlopidae family.[3][4] It is endemic to Africa.

Afrotyphlops obtusus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Serpentes
Family: Typhlopidae
Genus: Afrotyphlops
Species:
A. obtusus
Binomial name
Afrotyphlops obtusus
(Peters, 1865)
Synonyms

Geographic range

It is found in southern Malawi, northern Mozambique, and extreme eastern Zimbabwe.[5]

Description

Dorsally, it is dark brown, with the base of each scale paler. Ventrally, it is pale brown to cream-colored. Maximum snout-vent length (SVL) is 37 cm (14 1⁄2 in). The scales are arranged in 24 or 26 rows around the body, and there are more than 300 scales in the vertebral row.[5]

Snout very prominent, rounded. Nostrils located inferiorly (ventrally). Rostral large, more than half as broad as the head; portion of rostral visible from below as long as broad. Nasal semidivided, the cleft proceeding from the first upper labial. Preocular much narrower than the nasal or the ocular, in contact with the second and third upper labials. Four upper labials. Eyes not distinguishable. Prefrontals and supraoculars broad. Diameter of body 43 to 50 times in the total length. Tail broader than long, ending in a spine.[6]

Habitat

This species prefers loose humic soil in forests.[5]

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References
  1. Afrotyphlops obtusus at the Reptarium.cz Reptile Database. Accessed 6 August 2018.
  2. Branch, Bill. 2004. Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa, Third Revised edition, Second impression. Ralph Curtis Books. Sanibel Island, Florida. ISBN 0-88359-042-5. p. 54.
  3. "Typhlops". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved August 16, 2010.
  4. McDiarmid, Roy W., Jonathan A. Campbell, and T'Shaka A. Touré, 1999. Snake Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, vol. 1
  5. Branch, 2004.
  6. Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the Snakes in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume I., Containing the Families Typhlopidæ... Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History). London. p. 38.

Further reading
  • Peters, W. 1865. Einen ferneren Nachtrag zu seiner Abhandlung über Typhlopina. Monatsberichte der Königlichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Volume 1865, pp. 259–263.
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