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Liotyphlops albirostris (PETERS, 1858)

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Higher TaxaAnomalepididae, Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: White-nosed Blindsnake, Whitenose Blind Snake 
SynonymRhinotyphlops albirostris PETERS 1858: 402
Liotyphlops albirostris — PETERS 1881: 69
Typhlops (Idiotyphlops) emunctus GARMAN 1884
Helminthophis petersii BOULENGER 1889
Helminthophis petersii — BOULENGER 1893: 6
Helminthophis albirostris — BOULENGER 1893: 6
Helminthophis canellei MOCQUARD 1903: 211
Typhlops emunctus — BARBOUR 1906: 226
Helminthophis bondensis GRIFFIN 1916
Liotyphlops cucutae DUNN 1944: 49
Liotyphlops petersii — DUNN 1944
Liotyphlops caracasensis ROZE 1952: 150
Liotyphlops rowani SMITH and GRANT 1958
Liotyphlops albirostris — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 49
Liotyphlops albirostris — FREIRE et al. 2007
Liotyphlops albirostris — WALLACH et al. 2014: 396 
DistributionCosta Rica, Panama, Colombia,
Venezuela (Distrito Federal, Táchira, Trujillo, Miranda, Mérida [Esqueda & La Marca 1999]), Ecuador

Type locality: “Veragua” [Panama]  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesSyntypes: ZMB 9529
Holotype: INHS (= UIMNH) 41731; Panama: Near Fort Clayton Reservation, Canal Zone; C. Grant; January- 13 March 30, 1958 [rowani]
Holotype: MCZ 3971 [emunctus] 
DiagnosisDiagnosis (genus): Liotyphlops share the following suite of features that separate them from other anomalepidids: enlarged, nonpolygonal head plates that have rounded posterior margins; the enlarged rostral meeting a broad and short frontal plate to completely separate the prefrontals; scale rows at midbody 22 to 28; tail with a terminal spine. Liotyphlops differs from Typhlophis of South America by having enlarged head scales (scales on upper head surface same size and shape as dorsals in Typhlophis) and from the other Costa Rican genera in the enlarged rostral and peculiar frontal scales (Savage 2002: 555, whose diagnosis is based on 7 species known in 2002).

DIAGNOSIS (species): A small rare species with a light spot on the snout, lacking enlarged ventral scales and with the minute eyes hidden under scales (Savage 2002: 555).

DESCRIPTION: Total length to 223 mm; glossy black above and below. Scale rows around midbody 22; dorsal scale rows from head to tip of tail 370 to 455; no enlarged precloacal scales; tail short, about as long as head (Savage 2002: 555).

SIMILAR SPECIES: (1) Anomalepis mexicanus has the head colored like the body. (2) Helminthophis frontalis has the head and neck pinkish in color, and the rostral and frontal scales are separated by the prefrontals. (3) Typhlops costaricensis has the undersides of the posterior body and tail yellow. (4) Leptotyphlops ater has 14 scale rows around the midbody. (5) Limbless amphibians lack epidermal scales (Savage 2002: 555). 
CommentType species: Rhinotyphlops albirostris PETERS 1857 is the type species of the genus Liotyphlops PETERS 1881 (which is a substitute name for Rhinotyphlops PETERS, fide WILLIAMS & WALLACH 1989: 87).

Synonymy after DIXON & KOFRON 1984. Kaiser et al. 2013 considered the generic names Hawkeswoodus Hoser 2012, Kraussus Hoser 2012 invalid and rejected their use instead of Liotyphlops.

Distribution: not in Brazil nor Argentina fide Wallach et al. 2014, and Costa & Bernils 2015. 
EtymologyNamed after Latin “albus, -a, -um” = white and “rostrum” = beak, trunk, or proboscis. 
References
  • Barbour, T. 1906. Vertebrata from the savannah of Panamá, IV. Reptilia and Amphibia. Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harvard 46: 224-229 - get paper here
  • Boulenger, G.A. 1889. Descriptions of new Typhlopidæ in the British Museum. Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6) 4: 360-363 - 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
  • Carvajal-Cogollo, J.E.; L.E. Rojas-Murcia. & G. Cárdenas-Arévalo 2020. Reptiles del Caribe colombiano/ Reptiles of the Colombian Caribbean. Tunja: Editorial UPTC, 268 pp. - get paper here
  • Cope, E.D. 1887. Catalogue of batrachians and reptiles of Central America and México. Bull. US Natl. Mus. 32: 1-98 - get paper here
  • Dixon J R; Kofron C P 1984. The Central and South American anomalepid snakes of the genus Liotyphlops. Amphibia-Reptilia 4 (2-4): 241-264 [1983] - get paper here
  • Dunn, E. R.;Tihen, J. A. 1944. The skeletal anatomy of Liotyphlops albirostris. Journal of Morphology 74 (2): 287-295 - get paper here
  • Dunn, E.R. 1944. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 45: 175. - get paper here
  • Dunn, E.R. 1944. A review of the Colombian snakes of the families Typhlopidae and Leptotyphlopidae. Caldasia 3 (11): 47-55 - get paper here
  • Esqueda,L.F. & La Marca,E. 1999. New Reptilian species records from the Cordillera de Mérida, Andes of Venezuela. Herpetological Review 30 (4): 238-240 - get paper here
  • FREIRE, E.M.X.; U. CARAMASCHI & A.J.S. ARGOLO 2007. A new species of Liotyphlops (Serpentes: Anomalepididae) from the Atlantic Rain Forest of Northeastern Brazil. Zootaxa 1393: 19-26 - get paper here
  • Garman,Samuel 1884. The reptiles and batrachians of North America. Mem. Mus. comp. Zool, Cambridge (Massachusetts), 8 (3): xxxiv + 185 pp. [1883] [CNAH reprint 10] - get paper here
  • Griffin, L.F. 1916. A catalog of the Ophidia from South America at present (June 1916) contained in the Carnegie Museum with descriptions of some new species. Mem. Carnegie Mus. 7 (3) [1915]: 163-228 - get paper here
  • Hedges SB, Powell R, Henderson RW, Hanson S, and Murphy JC 2019. Definition of the Caribbean Islands biogeographic region, with checklist and recommendations for standardized common names of amphibians and reptiles. Caribbean Herpetology 67: 1–53
  • 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
  • Kaiser, H.; Crother, B.I.; Kelly, C.M.R.; Luiselli, L.; O’Shea, M.; Ota, H.; Passos, P.; Schleip, W.D. & Wüster, W. 2013. Best Practices: In the 21st Century, Taxonomic Decisions in Herpetology are Acceptable Only When Supported by a Body of Evidence and Published via Peer-Review. Herpetological Review 44 (1): 8-23
  • Kelehear, Crystal. 2014. Liotyphlops albirostris (white-nosed blindsnake) predation. Herpetological Review 45 (2): 339 - get paper here
  • Köhler, G. 2008. Reptiles of Central America. 2nd Ed. Herpeton-Verlag, 400 pp.
  • Lancini,A.R. & Kornacker,P.M. 1989. Die Schlangen von Venezuela. Armitano Editores C.A., Caracas, 1-381
  • Markezich, A.L. 2002. New distribution records of reptiles from Western Venezuela. Herpetological Review 33 (1): 69-74 - get paper here
  • Marra-Santos, Fidélis Júnio and Roberto E. Reis 2018. Two New Blind Snake Species of the Genus Liotyphlops (Serpentes: Anomalepididae), from Central and South Brazil. Copeia 106 (3): 507-514 - get paper here
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  • Natera-Mumaw, Marco; Luis Felipe Esqueda-González & Manuel Castelaín-Fernández 2015. Atlas Serpientes de Venezuela. Santiago de Chile, Dimacofi Negocios Avanzados S.A., 456 pp. - get paper here
  • Pedroza-Banda, Raúl; Jhon Jairo Ospina-Sarria, Teddy Angarita-Sierra, Marvin Anganoy-Criollo, John D. Lynch 2014. Estado de la fauna de anfibios y reptiles del Casanare Ciencias naturales Estado del conocimiento de la fauna de anfibios y reptiles del departamento de Casanare, Colombia. Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. 38 (146): 17-34 - get paper here
  • Pérez-santos, C. E. 1986. Las Serpientes del Atlantico. Madrid, 83 pp.
  • Pérez-santos, C. E. 1986. Zoogeografía de los Ophidia en Colombia. Univ. Complutense, Madrid, 2 vols., 971 pp.
  • Pérez-Santos,C. & Moreno, A.G. 1988. Ofidios de Colombia. Museo reegionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, Monographie VI, 517 pp.
  • Peters, WILHELM C. H. 1881. Einige herpetologische Mittheilungen. 1. Uebersicht der zu den Familien der Typhlopes und Stenostomi gehörigen Gattungen oder Untergattungen. 2. Ueber eine neue Art von Tachydromus aus dem Amurlande. 3. Ueber die von Herrn Dr. finsch aus Polynesien g Sitzungs-Ber. Gesellsch.Naturforsch. Freunde Berlin, 1881 (4): 69-72.
  • Peters, Wilhem Carl Hartwig 1858. Vier neue amerikanische Schlangen aus der Familie der Typhlopinen und darüber einige vorläufige Mittheilungen. Monatsber. königl. Akad. Wiss. Berlin. 1857 (August): 402 [1857] - get paper here
  • Rieppel, O.; Kley, N.J.; Maisano, J.A. 2009. Morphology of the Skull of the White-Nosed Blindsnake, Liotyphlops albirostris (Scolecophidia: Anomalepididae). Journal of Morphology 270: 536-557 - get paper here
  • RIVAS, GILSON A.; CÉSAR R. MOLINA, GABRIEL N. UGUETO, TITO R. BARROS, CÉSAR L. BAR- RIO-AMORÓS & PHILIPPE J. R. KOK 2012. Reptiles of Venezuela: an updated and commented checklist. Zootaxa 3211: 1–64 - get paper here
  • Roze, J. A. 1952. Contribución al conocimiento de los ofidios de las familias Typhlopidae y Leptotyphlopidae en Venezuela. Mem. Soc. Cien. nat. La Salle, Caracas, 12 (32): 143-158
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  • 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.
 
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