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Ramphotyphlops exocoeti (BOULENGER, 1887)

IUCN Red List - Ramphotyphlops exocoeti - Endangered, EN
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Higher TaxaTyphlopidae (Asiatyphlopinae), Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Christmas Island Blind Snake 
SynonymTyphlops exocoeti BOULENGER 1887: 517
Typhlops exocoeti — BOULENGER 1893: 36
Typhlops capensis RENDAHL 1918: 1 (fide WALLACH & GLAW 2009)
Typhlops exocoeti — GIBSON-HILL 1940
Ramphotyphlops exocoeti — COGGER et al. 1983: 1896
Ramphotyphlops exocoeti — WELLS & WELLINGTON 1984: 105
Ramphotyphlops exocoeti — WELLS & WELLINGTON 1985: 40
Typhlops exocoeti — GREER 1997
Ramphotyphlops exocoeti — MCDIARMID et al. 1999: 65
Typhlops exocoeti — COGGER 2000: 731
Typhlops exocoeti — COGGER & SADLIER 2000
Ramphotyphlops exocoeti — WALLACH 2003
Carrtyphlopea exocoeti — HOSER 2012: 20
Ramphotyphlops exocoeti — HEDGES et al. 2014
Ramphotyphlops exocoeti — PYRON & WALLACH 2014
Ramphotyphlops exocoeti — WALLACH et al. 2014: 628
Ramphotyphlops exocoeti — COGGER 2014: 801
Ramphotyphlops exocerti — EIPPER & EIPPER 2024: 344 (in error) 
DistributionAustralia (Christmas Island)

Type locality: Christmas Islands, Indian Ocean.  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesLectotype: BMNH 1946.1.11.78 (formerly 87.4.25.3), Christmas I., Indian Ocean, collected J.J. Lister. Designation by Wells & Wellington (1985).
Holotype: NRM = NHRM 2573 [Typhlops capensis] 
DiagnosisUnfortunately we had to temporarily remove additional information as this was scraped by multiple AI companies who sell that data to their customers. These details, e.g. detailed descriptions or comparisons (about 955 characters), are available for collaborators and contributors. Please contact us for details. 
CommentSynonymy: Typhlops capensis has been considered as a synonym of T. comorensis by Roux-Estève (1974: 1313) but “is believed to be a valid species” (Van Wallach, cited in McDiarmid et al. 1999). Wallach & Glaw (2009) indicated it was probably not from Madagascar and synonymized it with Ramphotyphlops exocoeti.

Terra typica (Typhlops capensis): “Kaplande” [Capeland, South Africa]. [Probably in error. According to FitzSimons, 1962, Snakes S. Africa, 423 pp.[63], capensis is not related to other South African species but to those from Madagascar, and accordingly the type probably came from that area.];

Type species: Typhlops ecocoeti Boulenger, 1887 is the type species for the genus Carrtyphlopea Hoser, 2012, a junior synonym of Ramphotyphlops.

Conservation: this is one of the most-threatened reptile species in Australia (Geyle et al. 2021). 
EtymologyNamed after a word that means "flying fish," and Boulenger so named the snake because officers from HMS “Flying Fish” collected the first specimen. 
References
  • Beolens, Bo; Michael Watkins, and Michael Grayson 2011. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, USA - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1887. Report on Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. III. Reptiles. Proc. zool. Soc. London 1887: 516-517 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1893. Catalogue of the snakes in the British Museum (Nat. Hist.) I. London (Taylor & Francis), 448 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H. G. 2014. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 7th ed. CSIRO Publishing, xxx + 1033 pp. - get paper here
  • Cogger, H.G. 2000. Reptiles and Amphibians of Australia, 6th ed. Ralph Curtis Publishing, Sanibel Island, 808 pp.
  • Cogger, H.G. and Sadlier, R.A. 2000. The Terrestrial Reptiles of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean – a reappraisal of their status. Australian Museum, Sydney. 195 pp
  • Eipper T & Eipper S 2024. SNAKES OF AUSTRALIA. Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 368 pp. - get paper here
  • Geyle, H. M., Tingley, R., Amy, A., Cogger, H., Couper, P., Cowan, M., Craig, M., Doughty, P., Driscoll, D., Ellis, R., Emery, J-P., Fenner, A., Gardner, M., Garnett, S., Gillespie, G., Greenless, M., Hoskin, C., Keogh, S., Lloyd, R., ... Chapple, D. 2020. Reptiles on the brink: Identifying the Australian terrestrial snake and lizard species most at risk of extinction. Pacific Conservation Biology - get paper here
  • Gibson-Hill, C.A. 1947. The terrestrial reptiles [of the Christmas Islands]. Bull. Raffles Mus. No 18: 81-86
  • Greer, A. E. 1997. The biology and evolution of Australian snakes. Surrey, Beatty and Sons, Sydney, 350 pp.
  • Hedges, S.B., Marion, A.B., Lipp, K.M., Marin, J. & Vidal, N. 2014. A taxonomic framework for typhlopid snakes from the Caribbean and other regions (Reptilia, Squamata). Caribbean Herpetology 49: 1–61 - get paper here
  • Hoser, R.T. 2012. A review of the extant scolecophidians (“blindsnakes”) including the formal naming and diagnosis of new tribes, genera, subgenera, species and subspecies for divergent taxa. Australasian J. Herpetol. 15: 1–64. - get paper here
  • James, D.J.; P.T. Green, W.F. Humphreys, and J.C.Z. Woinarski 2019. Endemic species of Christmas Island, Indian Ocean. Rec. Western Austr. Mus. 34: 055–114; DOI: 10.18195/issn.0312-3162.34(2).2019.055-114 - get paper here
  • McDiarmid, R.W.; Campbell, J.A. & Touré,T.A. 1999. Snake species of the world. Vol. 1. [type catalogue] Herpetologists’ League, 511 pp.
  • Pyron, R.A. & Wallach, V. 2014. Systematics of the blindsnakes (Serpentes: Scolecophidia: Typhlopoidea) based on molecular and morphological evidence. Zootaxa 3829 (1): 001–081 - get paper here
  • Rendahl, H. 1918. Zwei neue Arten der Gattung Typhlops aus dem Kaplande. Arkiv för Zoologi 11 (17): 1-6 - get paper here
  • Roux-Estève, R. 1974. Révision systématique des Typhlopidae d'Afrique. Reptilia. Serpentes. Mém. nation. Hist. nat., Paris, (sér.A.) 87: 1-313
  • Wallach, V. 2003. Scolecophidia miscellanea. Hamadryad 27 (2): 222-240 - get paper here
  • Wallach, V. & Glaw, F. 2009. A new mid-altitude rainforest species of Typhlops (Serpentes: Typhlopidae) from Madagascar with notes on the taxonomic status of T. boettgeri Boulenger, T. microcephalus Werner, and T. capensis Rendahl. Zootaxa 2294: 23–38 - get paper here
  • Wallach, Van; Kenneth L. Williams , Jeff Boundy 2014. Snakes of the World: A Catalogue of Living and Extinct Species. [type catalogue] Taylor and Francis, CRC Press, 1237 pp.
  • Wells R W; Wellington C R 1984. A synopsis of the class Reptilia in Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology 1 (3-4): 73-129 [31 Dec 1983 on cover]
  • Wells, R. W. and Wellington, C. R. 1985. A classification of the Amphibia and Reptilia of Australia. Australian Journal of Herpetology, Supplementary Series (1): 1-61 [sometimes cited as 1983] - get paper here
 
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