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Trilepida brasiliensis (LAURENT, 1949)

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Higher TaxaLeptotyphlopidae, Epictinae, Epictini, Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes)
Subspecies 
Common NamesE: Brazilian Blind Snake
Portuguese: Cobra-Cega, Cobra-de-Chumbinho 
SynonymLeptotyphlops brasiliensis LAURENT 1949: 4
Leptotyphlops brasiliensis — MCDIARMID, CAMPBELL & TOURÉ 1999: 23
Siagonodon brasiliensis — ADALSTEINSSON, BRANCH, TRAPE, VITT & HEDGES 2009
Tricheilostoma brasiliensis — PINTO & CURCIO 2011
Trilepida brasiliensis — HEDGES 2011
Tricheilostoma brasiliensis — PINTO & FERNANDES 2012
Tricheilostoma brasiliensis — VECHIO et al. 2013
Trilepida brasiliensis — RIBEIRO-MOURA et al. 2013
Trilepida brasiliensis — WALLACH et al. 2014: 738
Trilepida brasiliensis — NOGUEIRA et al. 2019 
DistributionBrazil (Bahia, Piauí, Minas Gerais, S Ceará)

Type locality: Brazil; restricted to to Barreiras (Bahia) (WALLACH 1996)  
Reproductionoviparous 
TypesHolotype: IRSNB Reg. 2049. I.G. 12594. 
DiagnosisDiagnosis:Distinguishable from all congeners by the following combination of characters: snout slightly rounded in dorsal and ventral views, obtuse-rounded in lateral view; supraoculars absent; supralabials generally 2+1, rarely 1+1; occipital scale usually extending ventrally beyond the level of last supralabial (posterior to the ocular shield); ocular shield subhexagonal with anterior border rounded at eye level; rostral subtriangular in dorsal view; middorsal scales 194–224 in females and 193–209 in males; midventral scales 178–212 in females and 171–196 in males; subcaudal scales 13–19 in females and 17–20 in males; fused caudals present (Fig. 1A); temporal scales distinct; ten scales around the middle of the tail; dorsum uniformly light to dark brown, covering five or seven dorsal scales, contrasting with whitish-cream color covering seven or nine scale rows on the belly [PINTO & CURCIO 2011].
 
CommentCORDEIRO & HOGE (1974) misidentified a specimen of L. borapeliotes as L. brasiliensis (fide CURCIO et al. 2003).

Taxonomy: the presence of two supralabials, as mentioned in the original description of S. brasiliensis, is not a common feature for this species, occurring at low frequencies throughout its geographic distribution. Based on a diagnosis presented in a recently published paper, as well as on additional external traits and on hemipenial characters, Pinto & Curcio (2011) recognize Siagonodon brasiliensis as a species of the genus Tricheilostoma.

Distribution: See map in Nogueira et al. 2019. 
EtymologyNamed after the species’ distribution in Brazil. 
References
  • Adalsteinsson, S.A.; Branch, W.R.; Trapé, S.; Vitt, L.J. & Hedges, S.B. 2009. Molecular phylogeny, classification, and biogeography of snakes of the Family Leptotyphlopidae (Reptilia, Squamata). Zootaxa 2244: 1-50 - get paper here
  • Cordeiro, C.L. & Hoge, A.R. 1974. Contribuição ao conhecimento das serpentes do Estado de Pernambuco. Mem. Inst. Butantan 37: 261-290 [1973] - get paper here
  • Curcio, F.; Zaher, H. & Rodrigues, M.T. 2003. Rediscovery of the blind-snake Leptotyphlops brasiliensis Laurent 1949 (Serpentes, Leptotyphlopidae) in the wild. Phyllomedusa 1 (2): 101-104 [2002] - get paper here
  • Freitas, Marco Antonio de; Guarino R. Colli, Omar Machado Entiauspe-Neto, Luiz Trinchão, Daniel Araújo, Tiago de Oliveira Lima, Daniella Pereira Fagundes de França, Renato Gaiga, Pedro Dias 2016. Snakes of Cerrado localities in western Bahia, Brazil. Check List 12 (3): 1896 - get paper here
  • Freitas, Marco Antônio; Omar Machado Entiauspe-Neto, Tiago de Oliveira Lima, José Soares da Silva Neto, Daniel Araujo & Jonathan Márcio Soares da Silva 2016. Snakes of Juazeiro, Bahia, Middle of São Francisco River, Brazil. Bol. Mus. Biol. Mello Leitão (N. Sér.) 38(4): 331-345.
  • Gonzalez R. C. et al. 2020. Lista dos Nomes Populares dos Répteis no Brasil – Primeira Versão. Herpetologia Brasileira 9 (2): 121 – 214 - get paper here
  • GUEDES, THAÍS B.; CRISTIANO NOGUEIRA & OTAVIO A. V. MARQUES 2014. Diversity, natural history, and geographic distribution of snakes in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil. Zootaxa 3863 (1): 001–093 - get paper here
  • Hamdan, B. & R. M. Lira-da-Silva 2012. The snakes of Bahia State, northeastern Brazil: species richness, composition and biogeographical notes. Salamandra 48 (1): 31-50 - get paper here
  • HEDGES, S. BLAIR 2011. The type species of the threadsnake genus Tricheilostoma Jan revisited (Squamata, Leptotyphlopidae). Zootaxa 3027: 63–64 - get paper here
  • Laurent, R. 1949. Note sur quelques reptiles appartenant à la collection de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique. III. Formes americaines. Bull. Inst. roy. Sci. nat. Belgique, Bruxelles, 25 (9): 1-20 [4]
  • Marques-Tozetti, Alexandro; Sergio Augusto Abrahão Morato, Renato Silveira Bérnils, Daniel Loebmann, Luís Felipe Toledo, Russell Gray, Omar M. Entiauspe-Neto 2021. Evolutionary dynamics shape two passive defensive mechanisms in Neotropical snake radiations. Phyllomedusa 20(1): 3-13 - get paper here
  • Martins, A., Koch, C., Joshi, M., Pinto, R., & Passos, P. 2021. Picking up the threads: Comparative osteology and associated cartilaginous elements for members of the genus Trilepida Hedges, 2011 (Serpentes, Leptotyphlopidae) with new insights on the Epictinae systematics. The Anatomical Record, 1– 34 - 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.
  • Moura, M.R.; R.M. Pirani; V.X. Silva. 2013. New records of snakes (Reptilia: Squamata) in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Check List 9 (1):99-103 - get paper here
  • Nogueira, Cristiano C.; Antonio J.S. Argôlo, Vanesa Arzamendia, Josué A. Azevedo, Fausto E. Barbo, Renato S. Bérnils, Bruna E. Bolochio, Marcio Borges-Martins, Marcela Brasil-Godinho, Henrique Braz, Marcus A. Buononato, Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia, 2019. Atlas of Brazilian snakes: verified point-locality maps to mitigate the Wallacean shortfall in a megadiverse snake fauna. South American J. Herp. 14 (Special Issue 1):1-274 - get paper here
  • Pinto, Roberta R and Felipe F Curcio 2011. On the Generic Identity of Siagonodon brasiliensis, with the Description of a New Leptotyphlopid from Central Brazil (Serpentes: Leptotyphlopidae). Copeia 2011 (1): 53-63.
  • Pinto, Roberta R. and Ronaldo Fernandes 2012. A New Blind Snake Species of the Genus Tricheilostoma from Espinhaço Range, Brazil and Taxonomic Status of Rena dimidiata (Jan, 1861) (Serpentes: Epictinae: Leptotyphlopidae). Copeia 2012 (1): 37-48. - get paper here
  • Pinto, Roberta R., Paulo Passos and Ulisses Caramaschi. 2005. Geographic Distribution: Leptotyphlops brasiliensis (Blind Snake). Herpetological Review 36 (2):203. - get paper here
  • Ribeiro, S. C., I. J. Roberto, D. L. Sales, R. W. Ávila & W. O. Almeida 2012. Amphibians and reptiles from the Araripe bioregion, northeastern Brazil. Salamandra 48 (3): 133-146 - get paper here
  • Rodrigues M T. Puorto G. 1994. On the second specimen of Leptotypholops brasiliensis Laurent, 1949 (Serpentes, Leptotyphlopidae). Journal of Herpetology 28 (3): 393-394 - get paper here
  • Rodrigues, M.T. 2003. Herpetofauna da Caatinga. In: I.R. Leal, M. Tabarelli & J.M.C. Silva (eds.). Ecologia e conservação da Caatinga, pp. 181-236. Editora Universitária, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brasil.
  • Silveira, A. L. 2010. Reptilia, Squamata, Serpentes, Leptotyphlopidae, Siagonodon brasiliensis (Laurent, 1949): Distribution extension and geographic distribution map. Check List 6 (4): 532-533 - get paper here
  • Vechio, Francisco dal; Renato Recoder; Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues; Hussam Zaher 2013. The herpetofauna of the estação ecológica de uruçuí-una, state of Piauí, Brazil. Pap. Avulsos Zool. 53(16): 225‐243 - 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.
  • Wallach,V. 1996. Notes and corrections on two scolecophidians: Ramphotyphlops albiceps and Leptotyphlops brasiliensis. Herpetological Review 27 (1): 10 - get paper here
 
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