Indotyphlops Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin & Vidal, 2014

Pyron, Robert Alexander & Wallach, Van, 2014, Systematics of the blindsnakes (Serpentes: Scolecophidia: Typhlopoidea) based on molecular and morphological evidence, Zootaxa 3829 (1), pp. 1-81 : 56-57

Indotyphlops Hedges, Marion, Lipp, Marin & Vidal, 2014

Type species. Typhlops pammeces Günther, 1864

Species content. Indotyphlops albiceps , I. braminus , I. exiguus , I. filiformis , I. jerdoni , I. lankaensis , I. lazelli , I. leucomelas , I. loveridgei , I. madgemintonae , I. malcolmi , I. meszoelyi , I. ozakiae , I. pammeces , I. porrectus , I. schmutzi , I. tenebrarum , I. tenuicollis , I. veddae , and I. violaceus .

Diagnosis. Indotyphlops can be separated from all other typhlopoids by a T-III or T-V SIP and the following combination of characters: small to moderate-sized (total length 35–365 mm), stout- to slender-bodied (length/ width ratio 23–130) snakes with 18–22 scale rows (usually without reduction), 229–523 total middorsals, short to long tail (1.1–6.7% total length) with 7–26 subcaudals (length/width ratio 0.7–3.7), and small apical spine. Dorsal and lateral head profiles rounded, narrow to moderate rostral (0.22–0.66 head width), inferior nasal suture in contact with first or second supralabial or preocular, superior nasal suture visible dorsally in some species, preocular in contact with second and third supralabials, postocular usually single. Lateral tongue papillae present; left lung absent, tracheal lung unicameral, paucicameral (with 16–34 pockets) or multicameral (with 15–26 chambers), cardiac and right lungs unicameral; testes unsegmented; hemipenis usually eversible, lacking retrocloacal sacs (but protrusible with 0.5–3.5 coils with retrocloacal sacs in some species); and rectal caecum usually small (0.7–7.4% SVL). Coloration of dorsum light brown to black with gradual transition to a lighter venter; labials, chin, cloacal region and/or tail tip white (some species pigmentless and pink or yellow and some have light head).

Phylogenetic definition. Includes the MRCA of Indotyphlops albiceps and I. braminus and all descendants thereof, and all species more closely related to I. pammeces than to the type species of the 15 other typhlopid genera listed here.

Etymology. Name refers to the Indian to Indonesian distribution of the species.

Distribution. Species occur from the Indian subcontinent in South Asia, primarily India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, through parts of Southeast Asia and Indonesia. One species, Indotyphlops braminus , has achieved a cosmopolitan distribution (Wallach 2009), partly due to its parthenogenetic nature (with each individual able to found a new colony) and partly as a result of human activities (transported in the soil of plants and ballast of ships). Speculation of its origin as southern India or Sri Lanka (Wallach 2009) is supported by its relationship with Indian and Sri Lankan taxa ( Fig. 1 ).

Remarks. Includes the former Typhlops pammeces (except T. conradi ; see below) and T. porrectus / Ramphotyphlops braminus species groups ( Wallach & Pauwels 2004), though some species may be re-assigned in the future. Diversity in this group is known to be much higher than currently recognized, with numerous newly discovered species in Sri Lanka ( Fig. 1 ; Pyron et al. 2013a; M. Wickremasinghe, pers. comm.). Hedges et al. (2014) recognized some species that are actually junior synonyms of other valid species (Wallach et al. 2014).

These are Indotyphlops ahsanai ( Khan 1999) , a synonym of I. madgemintonae ; and I. fletcheri ( Wall 1919) and I. khoratensis (Thomas 1962) , synonyms of I. braminus .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Results from a molecular phylogenetic analysis of 95 of the 275 known, extant species of typhlopoid blindsnakes. Tree represents the ML estimate from a concatenated matrix of 4 mitochondrial and 6 nuclear genes (6290 bp total), inferred using 200 independent searches in RAxMLv 7.2.8, with support estimated from 1000 non-parametric BS replicates (> 50 % shown).