Typhlops eperopeus THOMAS & HEDGES, 2007
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Typhlops eperopeus
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| Higher Taxa | Typhlopidae (Typhlopinae), Typhlopoidea, Serpentes, Squamata (snakes) |
| Subspecies | |
| Common Names | E: Baoruco Blindsnake |
| Synonym | Typhlops eperopeus THOMAS & HEDGES 2007: 12 Typhlops eperopeus — HEDGES et al. 2014 Typhlops eperopeus — WALLACH et al. 2014: 762 |
| Distribution | Dominican Republic (from below sea level in the Valle de Neiba up to relatively high elevations in the eastern Sierra de Baoruco.) Type locality: 3.9 km airline SSW Barahona (4.5 km S Barahona along coast road and 2.8 km inland), 18° 9.854' N, 71° 5.497' W, 305 m elevation. |
| Reproduction | oviparous |
| Types | Holotype: USNM 564785 (field tag number 266250), an adult female, collected on 30 July 1999 by R. Thomas. |
| Diagnosis | Diagnosis: This is a large, 20-scale-row species of Typhlops, not reducing to 18 scale rows posteriorly or reducing about 2/3 the way along the body. Despite the fact that specimens of this species were previously included within T. hectus (Thomas, 1974), T. eperopeus agrees with T. titanops in the presence of reduction from 20 to 18 scale rows fairly far anteriorly (60–65% of the TL) in some individuals (all T. titanops reduce at around midbody; T. hectus reduce at 73–94% TL). It differs from T. titanops in having a greater number of middorsal scales (307–329 versus 231–264). In body size (TL), T. eperopeus averages larger: 140–281 ( = 234) mm versus 145–216 ( = 185) mm in T. titanops. From the standpoint of size, middorsal counts and head scale shapes, however, the major comparisons are with T. hectus and the other species described herein. Typhlops eperopeus is sympatric with T. proancylops and differs from that species in having a nearly parallel-sided rostral (oval in T. proancylops), having a rostral wide point relatively far posterior (anterior in T. proancylops; Fig. 7A and following figure references in THOMAS & HEDGES 2007) and having a preocular with rounded apex (two angles near the apex in T. proancylops; Fig. 3B). Typhlops eperopeus differs from T. hectus in having a nearly parallel-sided rostral (distinctly clavate in T. hectus), and having a preocular with rounded apex (pointed in T. hectus; Figs. 3, 7B). Typhlops eperopeus differs from T. agoralionis in having a broader rostral (RW1/RL1 0.51–0.58 versus 0.41–0.45 in T. agoralionis), having a straight-edged (V-shaped) preocular extension (lower edge with angled bend in T. agoralionis; Fig. 3C). Typhlops eperopeus differs from T. sylleptor in having a broader rostral (RW1/RL1 0.51–0.58 versus 0.44–0.50 in T. sylleptor), a nearly parallel-sided rostral (oval in T. sylleptor), and in having a rostral wide point relatively far posterior (Fig. 7A). |
| Comment | Sympatry: In the lower elevations of its range, this species occurs sympatrically with T. pusillus and T. sulcatus (Schwartz & Henderson, 1991), and with T. proancylops in the vicinity of Puerto Escondido and Duvergé. |
| Etymology | Eperopeus, used appositionally, is Greek for deceiver, in allusion to the deceptive morphological similarity of this species to Typhlops hectus and the other species described herein, in contrast to its presumed relationship to T. titanops based on molecular and some morphological characters. |
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