Added 30 January 2014. Last updated 5 November 2023: repaired link to Liotyphlops.

Anomalepididae

Primitive Blind Snakes, Dawn Blind Snakes

Introduction

A small family found in the Americas, from Mexico to Argentina. The species are fossorial (burrowing) and found mainly in forests. It is presumed that like their relatives, the blind- and thread snakes, these snakes, none of which is larger than 40cm, prey on soft-bodied invertebrates and their eggs and larvae.

Zug, Vitt and Caldwell give the characteristics of the family as follows: cranially, two common carotid arteries, edentulous premaxillaries, longitudinally oriented maxillaries with solid teeth, and optic foramina that perforate the frontal; mandible has coronoid bone, and each dentary 1-3 teeth; no cranial infrared receptors in pits or surface indentations; no vestiges of limbs externally visible, but pelvic remnants occur in trunk musculature; intracostal arteries arise from dorsal aorta at nearly every trunk segment; left lung absent, tracheal lung present; left oviduct usually well developed although reduced in some Anomalepis. 2-13 eggs are laid, although this is based on limited data.

I am not aware of any of these species being kept in captivity.

Bibliography

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